The Sun Shines Better in Konoha
by moonrose71
Summary: Now in a hospital bed like his former teammate and best friend, Naruto was finally able rest easy knowing everything he had worked hard for came true...or did it? NaruIno with some SasuHina referenced in.
1. Chapter 1

**I bring you my first NaruIno Story(for NaruIno month-ish). This is kinda like the little sister story of _"With Love, Hinata."_ in that we're going to explore Naruto and Ino's pov now.**

 **As per usual with my house keeping:**

 **-I dont own Naruto**

 **-Warnings of strong language and suggestive themes**

 **-No place for hate here, negative comments will be removed.**

 **-ENJOY!**

* * *

Tsunade was at her wits end, this was the biggest test of her patience and skills as a medical ninja. With the war over at last, the casualty count was skyrocketing. She and Shizune were doing the impossible tending to as many wounded members of the village as they physically could, while Sakura, Ino and Hinata were with the boys. Hinata opted to stay in Sasuke's room after meeting with Tsunade about his fate in the village. Sakura sat out in the lobby, her nerves were on edge over the conditions of both of her teammates.

"You know, they say stress can cause hair loss…" Ino said while handing her a cup of tea "Can't have that now can we, else I'll _really_ have to call you billboard brow." She sat next to her friend.

Sakura chuckled softly while taking the cup from her best friend "No we can't have that...Thanks…"

"They are the strongest shinobi we know remember? They're gonna be alright.." Ino reminded her

Sakura shook her head "We've been through so much Ino...I can't-I don't know if that's true for sure yet…"

"No duh, no one does! But- We'll believe in it. We _have_ to believe in it. They're your teammates and my friends too." Ino put a hand on her shoulder

Sakura gave a small smile and nodded "What happened to Hinata?"

"When I left Naruto's room she was still with Sasuke, she was writing something I think."

"Oh...I see…" She said while taking a sip of the tea, it was her favorite lemon tea "Ino-"

The blonde put a finger on her pink haired friends lips and hushed her. "I already know what you're going to say, and I'm going to tell you as your best friend to relax."

Sakura couldn't help but pout, she knew Ino was right, but the urge to worry over the one that she had feelings for after so long was itching at her like crazy. "...It isn't fair…"

Ino sighed "At times like that, my mom had a special saying for me and it always helped me make it through the day…"

"Huh?"

"She'd smile and say, ' _The gloom of the day will make you sad, but look to the sun tomorrow and your smile will be glad."_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hello! Here is chapter 2 just for you all I hope you like it**

* * *

Slowly opening his eyes, Naruto was greeted by the sunlight shining through the windows of the room. He was in the hospital alright and he was not alone this time, Sasuke was in there as well and he was in his own bed leaning up and reading a piece of paper. His body still felt the aftermath of the war so getting up was a slow going and rather painful process as his bandaged torso reminded him.

"Didn't think you'd wake up this late…" Sasuke said looking at his busted up roommate

"Ngnh, don't remind me… What are you doing up so early? I thought you weren't a morning person…" He asked while slowly sitting up

"Reading. The girls came by and brought us food too, since you're a glutton I sat it by your bed." He said while putting the paper back on his table "Least leave me something will you…"

By the girls he must have been referring to Ino, Sakura, Hinata, and Tenten. That was awful nice of them, he looked at the abundance of food that they brought. Hinata gave them a basket full of fruit, Tenten brought onigiri, Ino made dumplings, and Sakura got dango for them. He could hear his stomach growling with impatience, he didn't know what to eat first!

"Oi here, Hinata brought this so _you_ can have it~" He teased while waving the basket of fruit at his teammate

The Uchiha rolled his eyes and snatched from him. "You know it wouldn't kill you to eat something healthy, especially since we both almost died…"

Naruto was too busy stuffing his face with the onigiri to pay attention. "Mm?"

"...Don't choke dobe…" He side as he started peeling the orange

"I didn't think you still cared for me teme..."

"What are you talking about?"

"You know, all things considered we technically should be at each other's throats yet here we are sharing a hospital room. You think this is genjutsu?"

"If it was I would have noticed by now...and I thought the Kyuubi protected you from that."

"Hmmmm good point."

Sasuke sighed "We should be fighting that's true, but eventually we get tired Naruto. I think- I think that after all that has happen between us, there wasn't a need to fight with a friend anymore…"

 _A friend_ Naruto couldn't help but grin at that as Sasuke rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Teme you softy…" He chuckled

"Shut up…" The Uchiha smirked and threw an apple at him

Naruto caught it easily, even after all that the hell he went through it filled his heart with relief to know he still had Sasuke as his best friend. After they ate, they were visited by Tsunade and Shizune to check up on their recovery process, followed by Shikamaru and Choji for casual talk and to share updates. Ino and Sakura came by later as well, mostly to see how they were doing a secretly gush over the hotness of the two of them but neither of them knew it. Sasuke went back to reading another piece of paper this time smirking a bit as he read it.

"You seem to like whatever it is you are reading huh?" He asked while looming over Sasuke's shoulder "What is it exactly?"

"Something private." He said as he swatted Naruto away

"Private? Let me guess, you still get love letters from your adoring fans?" He teased

He furrowed his brow at that, he detested being dubbed a heart-throb it was extremely annoying. "God no!"

"Well come on out with who's it from?" His curiosity spiking with anticipation

Sasuke gave a heavy sigh. "I'm only going to tell you so you don't keep me up about all night, but when I do, you cannot let anyone else know. Understand?"

"Alright alright, your secret's safe with me…" this must have been something important like a secret mission or something

The Uchiha showed him the letter he was reading along with the other one from earlier. After a quick read he found out that Hinata was the one writing them to Sasuke. It came at bit of a shock, who would have guessed?

"Wow, for the whole month? Granny Tsunade is harsh…" He said while handing the letters back

"Could be worse...I'll take it for what it is even though it gets on my nerves." Sasuke shrugged

"Heh, I suppose Hinata-chan wormed her way into your ice block you call a heart, about time someone was able to do it."

"Hn…" He was trying not blush "She's different, she isn't loud or boisterous like you and Sakura either so I can agree with someone like her."

"You mean she wasn't swooning at your feet the minute she laid eyes on you because she actually had a crush on me."

"That's what I said wasn't it? Don't you still have a crush on Sakura?"

He paused before responding "I- huh...I actually don't know anymore…"

Sasuke raised a brow "That's a first, here I thought you'd confess to her by now or something."

"I would have, but you know how saving the world and ending the war had a bit more priority…"

"Of course how could I have forgotten?" the sarcasm heavy in his tone

"But it's true, I don't know if I even want a crush on anyone...at least not yet anyway."

"Yet?"

"Well yeah, I'm not hokage yet! And no girl wants a boyfriend all bandaged and bruised up in the hospital either."

Sasuke grinned at his cheery former teammate while laying in his bed "Then get some rest already dobe."

He smirked back at his tired friend "You too you lovestruck teme…"


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry for the delay been having some writers block lately but don't worry this story will get updated!**

* * *

Weeks passed while Naruto and Sasuke were in recovering, it was relaxing if not boring since they couldn't really do much.

The girls on the other hand have been very busy lately. Sakura has been putting in double the amount of time at the hospital making sure everyone was recovering. Hinata had been working twice as hard since she recently learned of her father's sudden "change of heart". Ino and Tenten have been assigned double the amount of missions since the number of available shinobi has diminished since the war. Today, was one of those rare occasions that they weren't extremely busy so the 4 of them decided to all hangout together.

By hanging out it actually meant helping finish with decorating Sasuke's apartment. It actually turned out to be a very productive day and they were finished by noon, the last thing to do was to get groceries. Ino decided to tagged along with Hinata so they could chat while they went shopping.

"Honestly you're truly a saint Hinata, Sasuke should wine and dine you after all of this you're doing for him."

She shook her head and smiled "It's the least I could do, he should know someone cares about him…"

Ino smirked "More like someone _really_ cares about him _a lot_." She gave a playful nudge as Hinata started to blush "So does he know yet?"

"Y-Yeah…"

"Annnnd?"

"And what?"

"And are you two a couple yet or what? Come on tell me!"

Hinata turned pink at the cheeks "W-Well I...He knows how I feel about him and h-he seemed alright by it, but I didn't want to go further with anything because of the...agreement with Tsunade."

Ino pouted "Man, I was hoping for some good news."

"It's only for the rest of the month! A-And we write to each other as often as we can too."

Ino chuckled "I could never be able to do that, I'd like to see the person I love all the time as much as possible. You and Sasuke must have a huge amount of patience."

Hinata giggled "Well I try to be...Hey Ino?"

"Yeah?"

"You never really talked about who you liked."

She put a finger on her chin "Hmm, guess I haven't really been thinking about it much lately. I mean Shikamaru and Temari are engaged, then Choji started a relationship with Karui...been so preoccupied to really think about it."

They walked out of the market with their groceries together.

"Well, is there anyone that you had in mind?"

Ino took a moment to think about it while they walked "Well, if I had to pick… Maybe someone like Naruto?"

Hinata gave a small smile as they walked which made Ino slightly worried "Hey what's with the face?"

"What? My smile?"

"Yes, what are you thinking?"

Hinata giggled "Nothing bad don't worry, Naruto-kun is a very likeable person. Besides, isn't that who you got those extra cups of ramen for?"

Ino huffed before she blushed a bit, she thought Hinata wouldn't notice "Y-Yeah that's like his favorite thing to eat so what?"

Hinata gave another smile as she pointed to their location, it was the hospital. Ino panicked a bit internally " _oh god how the hell did she know I was going to drop off more food to the guys?!"_

"They are getting released from the hospital tonight, I'd better hurry and drop off the groceries at Sasuke's apartment. Have a good night Ino." She waved as she walked by

Ino paled a bit as her friend left. With a heavy sigh she walked inside to see Naruto and Sasuke.

The other nurses greeted her as she walked in, they knew who she was going to see so there was no more need to check in. She knocked before entering their room on the third floor.

"Hello? Its me!" She came in waving but Naruto shushed her and pointed at the naping Uchiha

"The teme decided to take a nap earlier, he should be waking up soon. What's up Ino?" Naruto asked softly while throwing on his shirt and jacket

She cleared her throat before speaking "I- just wanted to give you guys some food before you returned home but I can bring it to your place tomorrow." She whispered

"Well there still light out you know, want to stop by now? I was just about to leave anyway."

"Are you sure, what about Sasuke?"

"Eh, he'll be fine. He likes to be alone remember?" He shrugged

She smiled a bit before nodding "Okay, hoped you tidied up." She winked at him

The two blondes walked to Naruto's apartment while the sun was still setting over Konoha. He couldn't help but exhale an exaggerated sigh as he slouched on his couch, he hasn't been home in what feels like an eternity. Ino chuckled as she shook her head and put the bag of groceries down. They hung out and had dinner together, Ino added her own spin to the ramen she bought earlier by adding vegetables and spices. They enjoyed talking about old memories and laughing about their silly adventures. It was growing late and it was about that time for her to head home.

"Oi Ino wait a second!"

"Yeah? What is i-"

Ino was cut off when Naruto bear hugged her at the door like she was his little sister. "I never got to thank you for the food and good time." He chuckled

 _"Don't blush Ino don't do it!"_ She grinned "Aha don't worry about it! You're like a brother to me so of course I'll take care of you!"

"Then that means I'll have to treat my sister to something special!"

She hugged him back "I'm looking forward to it..."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Just wanted to take the time out to apologize if the chapters seem to be on the short side, its all for the build up! And as always there a method to my madness when I write my stories. Look forward to more chapters being added, I kinda fell behind due to the dreaded writers block but more content is on its way!**

* * *

For Naruto, being able to go on missions again was a wonderful feeling both physically and mentally. He didn't like being cooped up all the time, he had to be out and about in the action! Although it was only a C ranked mission it was the best C ranked mission he's had in a long long time. It almost felt nostalgic in that he completed it with Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi. They were nowhere close to the team seven they were when they were kids but it still felt nice to work alongside them again.

He couldn't help but keep the grin plastered on his face the entire time, Kakashi warned that it would get stuck that way and yet he didn't seem bothered by it. He was in such good spirits that when they returned back from their mission, Naruto decided to treat Sasuke and Sakura to dinner at his favorite restaurant. He couldn't help but watch in mixed emotions over Sakura's fawning over Sasuke, it was alright for a time even though he had feeling for her himself but now it felt rather awkward for everyone. Everyone except Sakura, she didn't know about Sasuke's secret relationship with Hinata- or maybe she did? Naruto was not the one to figure this stuff out, it was all rather complicated and solving complicated problems was more of Shikamaru's forte anyway since he had the intelligence for it.

"Naruto just how much money do you have?" Sakura raised a brow in concern

"Enough to cover it don't worry Sakura-chan!"

"I'd be wealthy if I had yen for all the times you come here." Sasuke scoffed

"That would be a win win then wouldn't it?" Naruto gave a sly grin

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he started to open the newest of letters. Naruto and Sakura watched with mixed emotions as the silent Uchiha started to smile slightly as he was reading. Not wanting to draw attention they quickly diverted their curious eyes elsewhere so it would look like they weren't spying.

Sakura leaned close and whispered "Did you see what I just saw?!"

"Yeah I know, the teme was smiling!"

She looked worried "You don't think…"

"Think what?"

"You don't think Sasuke-kun actually _has feelings_ for Hinata do you?"

Naruto internally started to panic as well but for a different reason: Before they were able to go home from the hospital, Sasuke told Naruto about how he had slowly started to have an interest in Hinata. He also didn't want to be bothered with all the drama of forming a relationship so they kept it as he so eloquently called it a _"mutual liaison"_. Now with Tsunade's little restraining order placed keeping them both apart for a month, they communicate to each other with letters. He felt that maybe Sakura _should_ know, but at the same time he also didn't want Sasuke raise hell all over again for the _third_ time in their lives.

Naruto gulped "Uh, Who knows these things with Sasuke? He's so complex and confusing at times remember, he may say one thing but it could me seven other things!" He tried his best to play it off

She sighed "I guess you're right…"

Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, " _Teme you owe me...big time!"_


	5. Chapter 5

_Early summer one morning..._

" _Hinata! Morning!"_

" _Oh, good morning Naruto-kun, how are you?"_

" _I'm fine, baa-chan has been giving me and Sasuke a lot of missions lately. But it's better than being trapped in the hospital all the time."_

 _She smiled "That's good to here, are you by chance meeting up with Sasuke-kun today?"_

" _Yeah as a matter of fact I am! Want me to give him your letter?"_

 _She flinched a bit out of embarrassment " Y-Yes if you don't mind-"_

" _Nah it's totally okay Hinata-chan, Sasuke told me what's going on so I don't mind helping out!"_

" _Oh Thank you Naruto!" She happily handed him her letter_

 _He grinned "Don't worry about it, Sasuke will be happy to read this one like he was last night."_

 _She blushed "H-He was happy?"_

 _He chuckled "Blushing and everything, he really likes your letters you know…"_

" _I-I'm glad. I'll see you later with Ino and Sakura?"_

" _Hm? Oh Sure I'll be around when I get back from our mission!"_

...

He was standing outside of the Uchiha's homely little apartment, getting ready for another round of missions from Tsunade. Today it was just a bunch of delivery missions for the two of them, and going to the difference villages can really be a hustle. When Sasuke finally came out, the two of them raced out of Konoha and into the forest.

"Soo, how was your love letter this time Sasuke?" He teased

Not saying anything, Sasuke purposefully tried to trip up Naruto to the point of almost letting him fall to the forest floor on his butt.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" Naruto yelled

" _My foot slipped…"_ he replied nonchalantly

They were finally finished with all their missions by 3 in the afternoon, so the two of them reported back to lady Tsunade and were sent home.

"Oh if you see Hinata give her this for me would you?" Sasuke handed him his letter

"Alright. You know we're all going to dinner, you sure you don't wanna come along?"

"I'm sure. Besides, the loud noise would just irritate my migraine. I'll be around tomorrow."

"Well okay, see you tomorrow then…"

He watched his close friend walk back home in mixed emotion of concern and confusion, but shrugged it off as something that'll pass on its own. He hurried to the restaurant where Ino, Hinata, and Sakura wanted to eat at and were also joined by Sai and Shikamaru. He grinned and greeted everyone as he arrived and the evening was filled with good food and laughter. He also could help but giggle a bit as he watched Hinata blush while reading Sasuke's letter.

" _Wonder what that teme actually wrote to her?"_ He thought mischievously as a scene played out in his head about Sasuke dramatically confessing his undying love for Hinata as she is swept off her feet.


	6. Chapter 6

"I like this one."

"Ohhh this one is cute!"

"Check out the frills on that one!"

Ino, Hinata and Tenten were in one of the clothing stores shopping for summer dresses. They had the day off from missions and work so some shopping was definitely a must. Tenten had picked out a magenta colored one with silky straps and light frills decorating the bottom of it. Hinata had a blue one with a cute black bow tie sash around the waist. The only problem was that Ino was having trouble picking out one for herself. She had to try on at least four other dresses already, but none of them had her sold.

"UGHHH!" She groaned in the dressing room "This is impossible!"

Hinata and Tenten couldn't help but giggle at Ino's plight as she was throwing a fit over what to wear until Hinata noticed one that Ino didn't try on yet that was hanging on the door.

"Ino, what about that one?" She pointed out

They all turned their attention to the long summer dress hanging on the door, it was orange with a purple floral print.

"This one?" Ino raised a brow "Huh I forgot I picked it out…"

"Can't hurt to try it on." Tenten chimed

With a shrug, Ino changed out of the previous dress she had on and tried on the new one. She had to stop and marvel at how well it actually fit, there were no straps but it complemented her figure rather nicely. She came out the dressing room to show Hinata and Tenten, their reactions were just the same as hers.

"Ino you look so pretty!"

"Yeah that dress looks great on you!"

The compliments from her friends had her blushing at the cheeks "Well I guess I found my dress then!" She cheered

The three of them happily walked out the store with their new attire on. Ino went back to the flower shop tending to the potted plants when she heard the ringing of the bell that altered to let her know customers were here.

"Helllooo? Ino-chan?"

She peeked her head from the back room to see who it was. Naruto, he was joined by Sasuke.

Ino quickly turned pink as she panicked " _SHIT!"_ She internally cursed to herself.

"U-Uhh Ummm, gimme a sec I'll be right there!" She called

She scrambled trying to find something, anything to change into so she wouldn't have to stay in her dress. Unfortunately there was nothing to be found and there wasn't enough time to run upstairs and change.

" _He's just a friend don't over think it Ino…"_ She chanted in her head as she walked out to greet them

Naruto gawked in amazement of how pretty he thought Ino was "Wow…" He said mindlessly

" _Just play it off you can do this!"_ "Haha, I see you like my new dress huh?" She said smoothly

Naruto couldn't help but stare at her while he even started to blush. Sasuke cleared his throat as he smacked his friend in the back of the head to bring him back to his senses.

"Ow- Ah- Oh! Yeah yeah I uh I wanted to get a bouquet of flowers for Tsunade-sama since her birthday passed. And the _teme_ over here wanted to pick out a flower for Hinata-chan…" He said while rubbing the back of his head

She giggled "Sure thing, Tsunade likes tiger lilies so you give her some of the orange ones." She said as she got the bouquet together for Naruto "And for Hinata, I recommend the white carnation, simply yet beautiful." She gave the two of them their flowers but before they left Naruto quickly pulled one of the tiger lilies out of the bouquet and placed it in Ino's hair

"Naruto why did you-"

"I-I thought since you were wearing orange I'd give you an orange flower...you know as an accessory thingy? You look really great by the way…" He huffed while blushing

She chuckled as she adjusted the flower in her hair. "Yeah I know...Thanks Naruto I'll take good care of my _accessory thingy._ " She gave a playful wink as they walked out the store.

She sighed taking the flower out of her hair and holding it to her chest for a bit. " _Very good care of it…"_


	7. Chapter 7

It was a rainy afternoon when Ino woke up, she had slept heavily after 2 days of back to back missions. Looking at the clock she realized it was almost 5:30pm. She groaned and laid in bed looking at the ceiling.

"Guess I was more stressed out about it than I thought…"

Thinking back to the event that took place in the morning at Hinata's. She and Sakura were just supposed to be visiting her while she was sick, but it quickly escalated into something worse.

 **Flashback**

 _The room got rather chilly with sadness before Sakura spoke again. "I still say that it's not fair, what with Tsunade-sama doing this Sasuke-"_

 _"Buuut, it's only for a couple more days and things will be bright like the sun shine Hinata." Ino interjected_

 _Hinata nodded "Yeah the l-letters seemed to have helped a bit too."_

 _"He reads them faithfully while on missions sometimes."_

 _Ino gave a side glare to Sakura as she said that._

" _That's not cool for you to say Sakura, especially when she's sick right now!" Ino whispered loudly_

 _Sakura folded her arms "Well it's the truth and she knows it!"_

" _So?! That doesn't mean rub salt on the wound! Come on she's our friend what are you thinking!?"_

" _I'm thinking about what's best for both of them_."

" _Tch, so suddenly you're miss know-it-all huh?"_

" _I_ _know_ _this was a mistake and Hinata shouldn't have agreed to do that."_

 _Ino folded her arms and shook her head "I knew it…You're doing it again aren't you?"_

" _Doing what?"_

" _You know exactly what I'm talking about. From when we were younger…"_

 _Sakura sighed "things are different now Ino, we're not kids anymore…"_

 _Ino looked a Sakura in disbelief_ " _Are really sure about that Sakura?"_

" _I-"_

" _Is something the matter guys?" Hinata asked_

 _They both looked up unaware that Hinata might have been listening, Sakura tried to give her best smile._

" _Yeah, yeah everything's fine Hinata."_

" _A-Are you sure?"_

 _Ino smiled as well "Of course, you just worry about getting better."_

…

Throwing on a pair of sweatpants and a plain colored tee, Ino was quickly out the door. She wasn't in the mood to really cook dinner, and her parents like to eat late. She opted for ramen, it was quick and good.

She sat there with her food just pondering about random things that came about in her mind until she heard a friendly familiar voice.

"Oh ho fancy seeing you here Ino."

It was Naruto, seeing how Ichiraku's was his all time favorite place to go eat. It was not uncommon to see him here. He was always welcomed company too.

She grinned "Heh, I felt like having ramen tonight what can I say. Care to join me?"

"Course I would join you!" He cheered

She smiled while they had dinner and talked, Ino couldn't help but find herself wondering if this technically counted as a date. It bothered her to know end, on a date she would usually be dressed an outfit a lot nicer than a shirt and some sweatpants. And it was with Naruto! Not that he was a bad choice, it was quite the opposite in fact. So why does it all seem so confusing?

"Say, can I ask you a really weird question?"

"Uh sure what's up?"

"Would you...count this as a date?"

"A date?"

"Yeah it's weird I'm sorry I just… I dunno it kinda felt like a date to me for some odd reason." She tried to laugh it off

"No I uh just wasn't expecting it heheh, but I guess this could be a date." He replied

She blushed a bit "You actually think so?"

He chuckled "Sure! It's not anything fancy but, it could be a relaxed date you know? I wouldn't mind doing this more often too."

"But I mean you'd rather go on a nice date with someone you actually like right?"

He raised a brow "Someone I actually like? I do like you Ino."

She frowned "I know that, but you still _like_ Sakura don't you?"

He paused for a moment, Sasuke asked the same thing while they were in the hospital. He still isn't one hundred percent sure on that if he was honest with himself. "Well I don't...I mean I-" He couldn't piece together a proper sentence to explain his this, how embarrassing.

"Oh man what kind of sister am I being? I shouldn't be acting like this towards you, it'll ruin the night!" Ino piped up and smiled

He looked a bit shocked by her response but smiled back, Ino was always the kind of person to cheer someone right up when their down. He liked that a lot about her. "Don't sweat it Ino-chan, the night's not over yet. Want me to walk you home?"

"That'd be nice."

...

After leaving Ichiraku's, Naruto and Ino shared an umbrella as they walked down through the village in the rain. Ino wasn't as talkative as she normally was and neither was Naruto for that matter. It was almost a gloomy walk home.

"Say Ino, you okay?" He asked

"Hmm, not really…"

"What's the matter?"

"It's nothing serious, Sakura and I got into an argument this morning over something stupid…"

"That sounds serious to me, I mean you and Sakura were best friends for a while."

"Tell me about it. I dunno I just- I just don't want anything bad to happen with my friends Naruto. I want us all to be happy."

"Then they will!"

She snorted "Is that so hm?"

"Yup, you believe in it don't you?"

"I guess…"

"Then it's gonna happen, no doubt about it. Why? Because you believe in that, things may be rough now but it'll get better in no time at all!"

She nodded and smiled up at him. "Hey you know what, you're right! I just forgot is all, look even the rains lightening up."

He grinned "See? It's a good sign, things are looking up for us Ino!"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Thought I might drop a few chapter in since I'm behind. I do apologize for the slow paces of the story and the chapter uploading but both are coming along. Since this runs along side my SasuHina story I have to make sure the times and scenarios line up nicely and all that jazz. So for those reading along I do thank you for your patients you guys are awesome!**

* * *

After a hot day by the river with his team, Naruto now found himself hanging out by the old training grounds. Not really doing much training, he just sat around with his thoughts. He thought mainly about the mystery that was his so called _love life_ , and how terrible it was. Since they were kids back in the academy he's always had a crush on Sakura, going above and beyond for her even if she never saw it as such. Hinata was his secret admirer for about the same amount of time until she actually confessed her true feelings for him. He had thought about pursuing something with her briefly but, now seeing her with Sasuke together paints a much better picture in his mind. She would be the shining light in all that gloom and doom he has in his heart after so many years of sadness.

So then that leaves him to wonder about Sakura and Ino, what about them? He has never really expressed his emotions before to a girl, and when he finally got see his parents at best the advice he got was just to try to find a girl like his mother. He slumped to the base of the tree and stared up at the evening summer sky, this was all way too complicated to figure out.

Ino was like a little sister to him, but recently there were times where he found himself developing deeper feelings that might even rival those of what he had for Sakura. She was funny, spunky, and able to handle her own. Not to mention she looked very beautiful, at least to him she did anyway. It wouldn't be so bad to be in a relationship with her, they would always find time to laugh and smile. But she probably just thinks of him as a brother…He groaned as he folded his arms in frustration, this was too much deep thinking for one day.

" _I'm shocked, you are actually able to sit still for once…"_

He sat up to see who it was, Shikamaru came by and looked down at him "You don't have a mission or training session to go to?" he raised a brow

"Nope, Tsunade gave me the day off today so I hung out with my team by the river. What are you doing prowling the old training grounds?"

Shikamaru reached into his pocket and passed him a sealed envelope "From Tsunade herself, try to be on time would ya?"

Naruto smirked and read the summons "No promises, you know me…"

"Just do it...Ino and I are going to be there too. This is kind of important Naruto…"

"How important?"

"You really think Tsunade would go out of her way to make sure my lazyass gets your lazyass to show up tomorrow?"

"Hm, good point I'll do my best to show up on time…"

He sighed as he leaned against a tree "Good. What were you even thinking about so intently anyway? For a minute I actually thought you were concentrating."

"Heh, you'll laugh when you hear about it but...I was thinking about girls…"

Shikamaru snorted "Wow, here I thought you only had eyes for Sakura...There's _another one?"_

"Was my crush that obvious?!"

"Seriously how could we not know? You ogled over her for so long…"

"Damn..." He pouted

"Let me guess, you still haven't told either of these girls how you felt and now you're stuck trying to figure out who's the right one?"

"You just love reading me like a book don't you…" Naruto grumbled

"If the book is an easy read, so who's the other girl?"

He quickly started to blush a bit "Er- It's Ino…"

He raised a brow "So you are confused between Ino and Sakura huh? Well good luck with that." He shrugged

"WHAT!? THAT'S IT?!"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes "I'm not a doctor you moron and girls can be a huge drag. You got yourself into this for some reason so I'm sure you'll be able to get yourself out."

"Tch, says the one getting married…"

"That's a drag too, so much planning... But seriously, you're overthinking this. Just be yourself and do what you do best, improvise."

"Hmm, improvise huh? I guess I could give it a shot…"

Shikamaru smirked "Just don't miss, you should know how women get when they are pissed… especially _those two_ …"


	9. Chapter 9

_Early in the afternoon_

 _All eyes in the room went wide as they just heard the announcement that Tsunade told to Kiba, Hinata, Ino, Naruto, Shikamaru and Rock Lee._

" _Un...Believable..." Shikamaru still reeling from the fact_

" _This isn't a joke is it Lady Hokage?!" Lee asked_

 _She shook her head "Not in the slightest."_

" _You really made the decision!?" Kiba question_

" _I went over it with Shizune and Kakashi this morning, I'm absolutely positive with my choice."_

 _Naruto looked as though he was about to faint, he still couldn't believe what he just heard. Tsunade made the preannouncement that the next hokage will be him. He glanced over at Ino who looked as though she was going to burst into tears. He was about to say something to her when she jumped and hugged him tightly._

" _CONGRATULATIONS YOU BIG OAF!" She cheered_

 _He almost fell over from the hug but he caught her midway and hugged back after realizing that her tears were of joy and not sadness. He chuckled and was even on the verge of tears himself._

" _Bwaha we have to celebrate guys! No, we're_ _ **going**_ _to celebrate. Tonight!" He announced to the group_

 _The room was filled with happiness for Naruto, as he carried Ino out of the hokage's tower bridal style. Tsunade warned them not to party too hard because they still were shinobi and would have work to do tomorrow. He also made a quick reminder to Hinata to invite Sasuke, he had to invite his best friend of course._

...

They had the party at around 8pm at Ichiraku's. There was plenty of ramen and sake going around as the night went on. He was shocked to see how much Ino could actually drink, even more shocked when Sasuke decided to give a toast in his honor. It was such a good night for him, and everyone around. He swore he even saw Sasuke smiling a couple of times tonight so this must be a very good night indeed.

As the night went on they grew more and more intoxicated, Naruto watched with blurred vision as Rock Lee and Kiba passed out on the floor. Ino fell asleep on Shikamaru's shoulder so he carried her back home via piggyback. Now still in a drunken daze Naruto was laying on his back on one of the tables as he faintly heard voices murmuring behind him. From the sounds of it, there was a man and a woman talking.

" _A-Are you sure?"_

" _Don't worry I'll drop the dobe off at my place, and I'll walk you home…"_

Sasuke was the only one he knew of that called him dobe, but the woman still remained a mystery as he blacked out from that point on. When he woke up, his head was killing him and he was not in his own apartment. It was too clean and rather bland looking, he groaned and slowly turned on his side to the clock on the wall, it was about 9:45am.

"Good you're up. You should probably take a shower or something, Tsunade's expecting us in 15 minutes and you smell like broth and sake…" Sasuke was drinking his coffee already dressed and ready to go

The blonde refused to leave the comfort of the couch until Sasuke went over and literally kicked him off. "Oi, now Naruto we have to go…"

"Ah! Alright Alright I'm going geez…" He whined as he got up "Just, don't mention to Sakura why exactly I have a hangover-"

"I'm leaving…" Sasuke was putting his shoes on and heading out the door

"OKAY I'M HURRYING TEME!" Naruto rushed to the bathroom

* * *

 **Nothing like a little morning after humor to end the chapter on!**


	10. Chapter 10

Ino spent practically the whole day in bed after last night's little celebration with a hangover. If it wasn't for Hinata coming over to visit she really would have just stayed home all day, but a quick trip to the bath house made it all better.

"Ngha! I feel like a dummy for doing all of that!" she slunk deeper in the hot water "Was I really that drunk?"

Hinata gave a nervous smile and nodded "Don't worry, I don't think Naruto will blame you. It was a party after all."

She pouted while blushing "I don't know what I'm doing anymore Hinata! I think I like him but I see him more as a brother type annd it's so confusing!"

"Well, how often do you spend time with him?"

"I'm... Not too sure. I'd say whenever we can meet up, why?"

"Maybe if you spend more time with him, it'll help with your conundrum."

Ino perked up "You think so?"

Hinata nodded "It's how Sasuke and I grew close…"

"Hm, I don't see why not but what should I do or say to him?"

"Say whatever you want, if he's like a brother then it should be easy to talk to him about anything. Just don't force yourself to over do anything."

Ino nodded "Yeah of course! It should be no sweat, you're absolutely right Hinata."

She smiled "I'm glad I could help."

"So how are things with Sasuke?"

She perked up a bit before blushing "Ah, things are… Okay for the most part- we um spoke a little last night at the party an-"

Ino inched closer to Hinata in excitement "Did you two hit it off?! Like actually talk face to face!? What happened!?"

"It wasn't e-exactly face to face but yes I um...I guess you could say we did kind of- hit things off?"

Ino had huge grin on her face "Excellent! See I told you things would work out! You actually got to see Sasuk-... Wait a minute, isn't that against what Tsunade said?"

Hinata twiddled with her fingers a bit before answering which left Ino wide eyed "Woooow, Hinata I'm...actually impressed! Who'd a thought _you_ to be such a rebel!"

Hinata quickly hushed her in embarrassment "I-It was just for the night Ino! I don't want to make a habit out of it!"

"Still though, good freak'n job, didn't know you had it in ya. Although you know what that means right?"

"Eh?"

"It means you'll want to do it again and again until-"

Hinata panicked "I didn't mean for it t-to happen! Oh goodness Ino no I can't! I-I don't want to do it again- I just wanted to see him so badly I-"

"Hinata that's _NORMAL!_ That's what couples are supposed to do, even guys like Sasuke know that. You naturally want to see him cause you are in _love_ hello?"

Hinata slumped in the warm water "I also don't want to...over complicate things."

"Neither do I but-look where we are? Over complicated things follow us wherever we go it seems, but it's not totally bad. This is your 10th letter right?"

"Y-Yeah."

"Then you have 21 more left, you've made progress!"

"But, what about you?"

"Me? Well, with me I have determination now. I'm going to figure out my feelings! True or not I will find out one way or another." Ino grinned with confidence

Hinata smiled and nodded in agreement.

Later in the afternoon when they parted ways, Hinata explained that she was going to the library in the hokage tower to do a bit of research for an upcoming mission. Ino in turn decided to spend the last hours of daylight on the training grounds, usually she's with someone but she didn't seem to care that she was alone this time. She was there for about an hour before she heard Naruto and Sakura come by. Sakura informed her that they had a meeting with Tsunade and would have been by sooner, but it wasn't a problem as she welcomed the two to train with her. The three of them got in a good 3 hours of training before they opted to head home for dinner.

Ino invited them over since she was cooking tonight, she made more of the meat buns and onigiri that Naruto seemed to like from before back when he was in the hospital. With a wave goodbye and thank yous for dinner they were both out the door and on their way home.

"Wait! Naruto!" Ino called out

"Huh? What's up Ino?"

"If you aren't busy...do you want to you know- hang out tomorrow?"

He raised a brow before smiling "Sure! Let's do it, meet up around the training grounds?"

She wasn't expecting that response, she blushed and grinned "Definitely! I'll be there!"

They waved goodbye as she closed the door, still giddy over the success of her plan to spend more time with Naruto. With a grin stuck on her face, she was able to sleep better dreaming of how fantastic tomorrow was going to be.


	11. Chapter 11

"18...19...and 20!" Ino panted as she completed a rep of 20 sit ups as she waited for Naruto.

It had to have been around 10 in the morning when Ino arrived, she was more eager about this than usual. She wanted to leave a good impression so she did some warm ups just to be on the safe side. Sit ups, push ups and a couple other stretches kept herself lean and limber, she could actually get use to it. Knowing Naruto's skills, she didn't want to appear totally weak or not good at fighting.

She gave a heavy sigh wiping the sweat from her forehead. "I really hope he didn't forget...Maybe he's got a mission…" She pouted before she noticed Sasuke sprinting through the trees above in a bit of a hurry. "Hm, interesting…"

"Hey Ino!" Sakura called moments later

She turned her attention to Sakura who seemed to have been looking for the Uchiha in a hurry as well. "Sakura? Whats going on?"

Sakura to a moment to catch her breath "I have medication from Tsunade-sama to give to Sasuke but, he's so quick and it's hard to catch up with him. Did you happen to see him around here?"

Ino paused for a moment "I was too busy doing warm ups to pay attention sorry. I'm sure he'll turn up eventually."

She gave a heavy sigh "Yeah I guess...I just hopes it helps."

Ino tilted her head "What's this medication for anyway?"

"Migraines, Sasuke's been getting them a lot recently and I'm worried."

Internally Ino rolled her eyes but she just folded her arms "Sasuke's sure to be around the village _somewhere_. So I wouldn't be too concerned...By the way, you wouldn't happened to have seen Naruto around have you?"

"Uh yeah actually, he should be on his way here. He was stuffing his face with Choji and Shikamaru, I thought you would be with them for breakfast."

She pouted and plotted to kill her teammates in her mind, they were ruining her hangout day! The nerve! "I see...Thanks Sakura."

"No problem Ino."

She went back to doing some more warm ups in a bit of frustration, she wasn't going to let Naruto off the hook that easily when he got there. He came around 15 minutes after her conversation with Sakura, huffing and panting seeing how he ran all the way there. Ino played off her excitement with the disappointment of his late arrival as she folded her arms at him.

"Ah! Sorry I was with your teammates and I lost track of the time!" He gasped

"Humph! You need work on your memory skills, but better late than never."

He gave a nervous chuckle and scratched the back of his head. "Eheheh, my bad Ino I'll make it up to you starting now. Tell me what you want to work on."

"What I want to work on?"

"Yeah you know like, combat or different jutsu or anything really."

"Well I guess some combat training would be nice, you don't need to warm up or anything?"

"I'll be fine, don't you worry."

"Okay… If you say so…"

He grinned as he go into a fighting stance "Alright, give me your best shot!"

She smirked and got into a fighting stance as well and charged at him. For about 30 minutes they traded blows at one another, Ino fully realizing the extent of just how strong Naruto has gotten over the years. She felt herself being more on the defensive side of their spar the entire time, dodging and counting his blows the best she could. But she was determined, she wasn't going to give up so easily. Ino played defense well making sure not to give him any weak spots to attack, Naruto even took notice as he soon upped the level of how difficult their fight was.

" _Damn he's really good, but I'm not weak anymore either!"_ Ino thought to herself while panting

"Heh, Ino if you're _tired_ we can stop!~" He teased

She huffed "I'm far from tired!"

She lunged at him preparing to strike him with a roundhouse kick, but Naruto's reaction time was better in that he was ready with a counter. Only this time his counter did more than what was expected; he overcompensated for her attack and somehow managed to tackle her to the ground.

Thankfully they were on the grass so no one was seriously injured, but from an observer's perspective it looked far from innocent in that Naruto's hands were perfectly resting on Ino's . She went very red very quickly on her face as she watched Naruto blank expression quickly turn to panic.

"Shitshit Sorry! I uhhhh got a little out of hand there heheh!" He quickly tried to play it off so he would get a beat down from her.

"Was the pun really necessary you oaf?" She asked, still beat red in the face but she tried to dismiss it as being embarrassed

"Aha...Gomen, honestly if this were Sakura she'd kick my ass by now…"

"Well. Don't think I won't...And um...You can let go of my hands now Naruto…" She was truly trying now to let her feelings get the better of her

He tilted his head before quickly realizing the gravity of the situation, and quickly got up while letting go of her hands. He too had started blushing at this, but Ino sat up and pouted at him.

"Wh-What I did I do now?!"

"You're not gonna help a lady up either? My god how rude…" She crossed her legs and sat there on the ground rolling her eyes

Naruto was extremely perturbed right now as he grew more and more flustered by her confusing behavior. "I-I was getting there I would have helped you up!" He protested

Ino kept her unamused demeanor silent, which caused Naruto even more confusion. So, instead of doing what Ino thought was going to be a simple hand offering he carried her up. If Ino wasn't already red, she was extremely red now more than ever, she even let out a shriek of embarrassment.

"NARUTO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"I WAS JUST HELPING YOU UP ISN'T THAT WHAT YOU WANTED?!"

"NOT LIKE THIIIS!"

He wasn't winning. No matter what he tried, things just weren't going in his favor it seems. Not wanting to frustrate her more he easily put her down, fully pink at the cheeks. Ino looked at him, her red face calmed down to a simple blush at the cheeks as as well.

She cleared her throat. "Sooo uh...Now that that's over...What should we do now?"

"I don't know...Want to grab lunch?"

"Okay."

The atmosphere was awkward at first when they were leaving the training grounds but Naruto remedied this.

"Say uh Ino, what did you think of the combat training?" he piped up

"Huh? What did I think, you beat me remember?"

"Well kinda but, I mean how do you think you did?"

"Mmmm, I could use more combat training to be honest. I'm not like Sakura who can tear down walls with her fist or like Hinata with her kekkei genkai."

He frowned "Maybe, but don't compare yourself to others like that Ino! Especially your best friends!"

"But you have to admit it's somewhat true…"

"No it's not."

"And how do you know that?"

"Because Hinata had to train hard to become strong too, she didn't naturally become good with her byakugan. And the same could be said about Sakura, Tsunade-sama trained her so I know there was a lot of work involved with that. So you're not the only one who has to train hard to become strong."

She gave a small sigh "Yeah that's right."

"Also you've got that cool mind transfer jutsu! That's something only your family knows how to do, not to mention you know a thing or two about medical stuff like Sakura. So I'd say all of you have something that makes you strong, and you should feel proud about it and want to get better!"

She felt a smile creep on her face as his kind words hit close to home. "Thanks for that Naruto…"

"Hey don't stress over it, I had fun sparring with you. If you want we could do it again more often if you want." He grinned

She nodded as they approached one of the restaurants "I'd like that."

Ino had picked out a tea shop for lunch, they saw Shikamaru with his fiancee Temari inside as well. It was fine until they both started to poke fun at the potential of them dating, naturally Naruto and Ino played it off as just a day of hanging out with a friend. It was Shikamaru who was enjoying the opportunities of poking fun at his teammate, while Temari was more subtle and nonchalant about it.

Before they left, Temari turned to Ino and gave a playful wink and whispered " _Good choice."_

Ino quickly got up and left the tea shop as well with a confused Naruto tailing behind.

* * *

 **A/N:Thought a longer chapter was needed and I figure why not give them another hang out day. As always I wanna thank you guys for readying its always a pleasure. And I should let you know ( I didn't realize this until recently) I will be uploading chapters slower than normal because I actually reached the limit in how many docs you can upload at a time! (whoops) So now I have to reorganize and pick which docs get deleted. But nothing to worry over I will make sure it gets done because this story is worth it!**


	12. Chapter 12

Ino inspected the outfit she picked out from her closet and held it close to her body as she looked in the mirror. "So, what do you think? Too much?"

Sakura shook her head. "No way, it looks cute I like it."

Ino still wasn't completely satisfied "Are you sure? I feel like it might be too much…"

Sakura pouted "Ino, it's just one night with Naruto you don't have to sweat over it."

Ino tossed the outfit aside and slumped on the couch flailing her arms like a child throwing a tantrum. "I know but it feels like the total opposite!"

Sakura laughed a bit at Ino's dismay as she stuck her tongue out "Oh ha ha, but I seem to remember a certain pink haired genin doing the same thing over a certain Uchiha…"

Sakura giggled "Relax, I remember the feeling all too well. You wouldn't let me live it down then so just think of this as payback."

Ino rolled her eyes "Yeah yeah enjoy it while it lasts, I just want to be ready for tonight is all…"

"You mean for your _date?_? Sakura teased

" _Not. A. Date!"_ Ino hissed behind her blush

Sakura raised a brow "Really? Lets check the list: Picking out something nice to wear? Check! Worrying over what to wear? Check! _Getting all flustered when I mentioned it?_ "

Ino pouted and turned on her side. " _Dates_ are for couples Sakura you know that."

"So?"

" _So_ , Naruto and I are not a couple so it can't be considered a date."

She smirked "Are you sure about that Ino?"

"I-..." Ino cursed herself internally "The situation's confusing…"

"How so?"

"Because! I don't know how he feels and he doesn't know how I feel! So I don't want to go out of my way and say ' _hey I like you!_ ' when he might just see me as a sister…"

Sakura paused as she thought for a moment "But what if it's Naruto that says it first? Do you see him as a brother?"

Ino couldn't answer that

"And there lies the problem." Sakura concluded

She gave a hard sigh "Yeah Hinata gave me the same speech, it's a painfully slow process of getting to know him. And you know if _he_ makes the move first, I want to have my feelings in order so I can be honest with him. I want to be _absolutely_ sure about how I feel about him, right now I'm just… a mess"

"How big of a mess?"

She turned to her pink haired friend "There are times when I get all warm and fuzzy with him, but then there are times when I just want to laugh and hang out with him. When we were sparing, my face was red like a rose cause he tackled me! Oh and he held me in his arms too! Sakura this is a _HUGE_ mess!."

Sakura gave a nervous smile and patted her friend on the shoulder. "Naruto is a crazy one I'll admit but...but he's not as complicated as you think Ino. He's very compassionate, in anything he sets his mind to. He will go above and beyond for those he cares about, and although he's dense about things like this he'll follow his heart and make the right choice. You don't have pull your hair out over him…"

Ino raised a brow "You really think so?"

Sakura grin "I know so."

* * *

 **I hate to leave it like this, but it just leaves more room to write about the " _date_ " hint hint. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry for such a delay but here it is the long awaited date enjoy!**

* * *

Naruto gave a heavy sigh as he headed for the shower, he didn't realize how late it was until he got back to the village from a mission with Tenten and Hinata. He let the warm water hit body as he thought about the evening he's going to have with Ino.

" _Ino, remember how the last time when we hung out it wasn't really a date?"_

" _Yeah kinda...Why?"_

" _Well, I want to uh...Actually have one, you know a real one."_

 _She blushed. "Naruto, are you asking me on a date?"_

 _He nodded. "I told you I'd make it up to you."_

" _Well then, I'll say yes. When will you pick me up?"_

 _He wasn't expecting her to accept so easily so he was blushing a bit "I have a mission but I should be back tonight, is that okay?"_

" _Sounds like a plan!"_

After a quick shower, he scrambled to find the cloths Kakashi lent to him when he told him about his emergency date. Thankfully he found them folded away in his closet: it was a fresh new white button down with a pair of black dress pants and dress shoes. He wanted to make himself look better than his usual attire after all, he combed his hair the best he could too.

Walking down the street he quickly fixed his collar and tried to remain as cool as possible, it was Ino after all. She was like a sister to him, but he found himself becoming incredibly nervous over her the closer he got to her home. With a quick breath, he gave a knock on the front door.

" _No big deal right...She's a good friend it's fine…."_ He thought internally

Ino came out to greet him and it cause him to take back all the things he's said as a vote of confidence and was totally in shock by how good she look: She was wearing a dark purple dress with little frills on the bottom and she had her platinum blonde hair down instead of in her usual ponytail. He could help but stare and blush. "I-Ino you look...G-Great!"

She smirked "Goodness don't get _too_ excited now, we didn't even do anything yet."

He came back to reality and cleared his throat "Er- Right! I meant to say, you look lovely this evening." He tried to play it off

She giggled "Thank you, but you're still a goof…"

" _Dammit, this is gonna be hard!"_

Their date started off with a stroll through the village's main strip, they were walking past the various stores and buildings. Ino couldn't help but blush for the fact that there were other couples out and about tonight, and for the surprisingly nice attire that Naruto decide to change into.

"I must say Naruto, you cleaned up nicely." She chimed

"Heh, thanks. Figured you'd probably want me dress better than what a normally wear while being all smelly after a mission."

"Oh, how'd it go if you don't mind me asking?"

He shrugged "No big deal, just a delivery to Kirigakure. Hinata was in a rush so it went by in a breeze."

She smiled "That's good but I have one more question…"

"Yeah?"

"Where exactly are you taking me for this date of ours?"

He quickly panicked, he hadn't thought this all the way through. Taking her to Ichiraku's seemed to be a cliche and they've both eaten there enough times. "Er- Its a surprise, you'll see!" he replied quickly.

She looked a bit confused at first but shrugged it off as he lead the way. He took them out by an old place he hasn't been to since he was little. It was a clearing which lead to a pound, in its reflection was the new moon and some fireflies hovering around with their lights flickering. Both Naruto and Ino were not expecting the area to be filled with such beauty, Naruto made a mental note to thank his lucky stars for such an event.

"So, what do you think Ino? Like it?"

"No you goof I love it!" She marveled "You definitely surprised me."

" _I'm surprised myself…"_ He thought behind his grin "Awesome, when I said I was gonna make it up to you, I wanted it to be as special as possible."

She found herself giggling while a her cheeks started to turn pink. "There you go again…"

He raised a brow "Again with what?"

"Making a girl blush, you know how to do that so well ya know…"

"Isn't that a good thing then?"

"For you maybe, for me I don't know."

He sighed as he sat on the dock swinging his feet. He patted a spot for her to sit and join him while watching the waves in the water. Ino couldn't help but start to feel bad, maybe she had accidentally said the wrong thing yet _again_ and now she has most likely jeopardize all chances of ever starting something more than just good friends. She was about speak but Naruto spoke first.

"Do you like fireflies?"

"Wh- Huh?"

"Fireflies, do you like'em?"

"I'm not big on bugs but, yeah I like fireflies. We used to put them in jars when we were kids remember?"

"Mhm! And they say if you saw a bunch of them come out at night, it meant that someone's gonna fall in love very soon."

Ino hugged her knees "Hmm, you don't say...Well they're out right now, wonder who the lucky couple is?"

"I can take a pretty good guess and say that Sasuke teme is it."

Ino giggled a bit "Really? You support Sasuke and Hinata too huh?"

"Oh absolutely! I say it's about time he met someone so he can finally calm down and relax. It took someone really special to melt his ice block he calls his heart and I'm glad Hinata-chan could do it."

"That's true...but what about you?"

"Eh? Me?"

"Yeah, what kind of girl can get into your heart?"

He started to blush a bit "I...Never really gave it much thought about what _kind_ of girl...Not that I don't care! I just- I'm not that picky. You see how Hinata warmed Sasuke's heart because she's so kind and she cares a lot about him. Shikamaru and Temari got together because of how smart they were and he liked her sassiness. With me, I don't really need anything fancy or special about a girl, I would just want her be herself...Sorry I was rambling…" He gave a nervous chuckle

She shook her head "No no you weren't rambling to me. I get it actually, you want a girl who you can be yourself with."

He mentally wiped the sweat from his brow as he grinned. "Good. That's good…"


	14. Chapter 14

Naruto was definitely in better spirits after last night's date with Ino. He was still grinning from the kiss on the cheek he got once he took her home, he felt today was going to be a good day after a successful night like that.

"Oi, if you keep that up your face will stay that way…" Sasuke told him

"Oh and that would just be a tragedy for you wouldn't it?" He asked sarcastically

"It would be a tragedy if we fail this delivery because you wanted to be a dumbfounded dobe."

Naruto didn't realize that they were heading in the opposite direction of where their delivery was suppose to go. They were told to head to the Land of Waves, however Naruto was half way to Kusagakure.

"Wh-?! Why the hell didn't you stop me then Teme!?" Naruto exclaimed

"What the fuck do you think I've been trying to do?! You were too thick headed to hear me."

He gave a heavy sigh and changed directions from where they were walking, but Sasuke groaned as he shook his head at his wayward teammate. "Still the wrong way…Don't tell me you actually forgot where we were heading."

"O-Okay I won't then."

The Uchiha rubbed his temples as he contemplated on kicking his ass. "We're heading to the Land of Waves. We have to deliver these documents. You're name is Naruto, you are a dobe. Any of this sound familiar to you?" He informed with heavy sarcasm

"You don't have to be so harsh about it, I don't get that way when you get all weird when it comes to Hinata-chan." He said as he folded his arms

"You mean to tell me, Sakura has you distracted on missions now?" He asked while going in the proper direction

"Actually, it's not Sakura this time…"

"So you started dating Ino?"

He raised a brow "N-No! And how do you know about that?!"

"You practically drooled over her when she wore a dress, you gave her a flower, ...do I need to continue?"

"No need I get it, but we're aren't really dating...I think."

"You think? Or you have no absolute idea what you're actually doing?"

"Again, why are you being so sassy about it? I'm sorry I went the wrong way!"

Sasuke gave a heavy sigh as he face palmed "Hn."

"And to answer your question, yes okay I have no clue what I'm doing…"

"That's not new, but at least you're actually trying this time."

Naruto grunted as he folded his arms while walking. "Oh ha ha, like you're doing any better?"

"Least I have only _one_ …"

" _Only one…"_ Naruto grumbled "I didn't ask for all of this you know!"

"Do we ever ask for the problems that we face?"

"No but-"

"Then stop whining about it and fix the problem."

"Well alright then since you seem to be _oh so knowledgeable with romance_ tell me oh wise one, how do I fix this problem?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes "First off if you keep that up, we're fighting. Next, just ask Ino out and be done. Or if you sure you have feelings for Sakura, ask her out instead."

"That's easy for you to say- what would _you_ do if you were me?"

"Obviously date the one I actually feel attracted to. The problem is you still like them both as friends, that's why it's so difficult."

Naruto thought about it for a bit while walking "You know oddly enough that makes sense, since when did you suddenly get so wise?"

Sasuke shrugged "Since when did you need me for advice on romance?"

"Good point, by the way how are things with Hinata anyway?"

"For the most part things are alright, besides the annoying migranges."

Naruto shook his head in disbelief "You've lost your arm and didn't complain, but migraines are annoying you now? How did you even get them in the first place?"

"I don't know and I don't care honestly, Tsunade gives me medicine for them so it helps take the edge off. And as long as Sakura can refrain for bothering me it works, I don't want Hinata to worry over me."

"Tch, wow… The famous Sasuke teme is going soft, I'm actually impressed."

"You know I'm very close to stopping right where we are and kicking your ass…"

"Okay okay, so violent..."

"Just come on so we can finish the mission dobe... You'll figure out what to about your girlfriend situation by the time we get back."


	15. Chapter 15

Naruto sighed and relaxed comfortably on his bed, no missions today meant that he could take it easy. The timing could have been better too, Tsunade's going to announce publicly that he will be the next hokage in a few days. He made a small mental note to get her a gift before that happens, he did care about granny Tsunade a great deal and it seemed bittersweet to actually have her finish up being the hokage.

He also thought about the things he and Sasuke discussed, their romantic issues were a good topic to talk about while traveling to The Land of Waves. He bickered to Sasuke about taking care of himself so that way Hinata wouldn't have to worry, and in turn the Uchiha told him to just go with what he knows is right when it came to finding "the one". It all seemed easy in theory, but they both knew that to actually go through with it would be a struggle in itself. Sasuke was just as stubborn if not more so than himself, and Naruto realized just how horrible he was at "picking the right girl".

He cared a great deal about Sakura over the years, but it seemed that she still had her feelings geared towards Sasuke. Normally he should have gotten over the feelings and moved on, but for some reason he still finds himself thinking about her. Then there was Ino, she was like a little sister to him. They always had fun together and were enjoying each other's company a lot, there were also new feelings that he started to have for her. They weren't the same as the ones for Sakura, they were deeper and felt softer.

He tossed and turned on to his side checking the alarm clock on the nightstand, it was about 4:30 pm. Time went by faster when he wasn't doing much it seemed…

Scrambling to reach the cabinet drawer, he pulled out a notepad and a pen and started to write a meaningful thank you note to Tsunade. He had to make sure this was really sentimental;

 _To Tsunade Baachan,_

 _How do you say thank you to a person who literally saved my life when I was younger?_

 _How do you say thank you to a person who was the best medical ninja I know, but really sucked at slots? I don't really know sadly, but I'm going to try with this. Thank you so much._

 _No one else could lead the village like the way you have, we wouldn't have made it without our the tremendous strength of our hokage. You chose me to take over when there were others who could do so much better… I still don't know what to say honestly, but from the bottom of my heart I am forever thankful for having you as the grumpy alcoholic baachan that you are._

 _Naruto_

Reading over it, he seemed pretty proud of how well it turned out. He smiled and sealed it in the envelope, but all that was left was a gift. There was one thing that came to mind and it seemed perfect to Tsunade. Throwing on some black pants and his orange and black jacket, he went to the jewelry store eyeing the various necklaces. He remembered seeing a particular necklace with a yellow topaz hanging from it, but he didn't have enough for it. Now with all the money he's saved up from missions he was confident he was able to afford it. With luck it was still in the display case and he immediately bought it. He grinned ear to ear while walking back home, he even waved hello to team 10 as they were walking by. Unaware to him, Naruto accidentally dropped the necklace he just bought and unfortunately didn't realize this fact until he was already home. He screamed as he face palmed while landing back in bed, so much for a good day...

* * *

 **A/N: Poor Naruto, but don't worry things will get better! Also more chapters will come, its a slow process at the moment but I will do my best to make sure you lovelies get to read more about this story. Thanks again for reading**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I feel good about this chapter, and I hope you will like reading it. From here on the plot will start to come into play as it did with my SH story. I did make this one longer for that reason so do enjoy!**

* * *

Ino stood in front of Naruto's apartment door unusually nervous, she held a neatly wrapped small box in her hands as she tried to calm herself down. It was about 6 o'clock now and she was returning the necklace that Naruto accidentally dropped while they walked by earlier. She made the attempt earlier to return it but he was already gone among the crowd to really get his attention.

"Hopefully he's home…" She said softly while letting out a sigh. "Come on...I'm just returning a necklace it's no big deal…" She reminded herself as she prepared to knock on his door. "Narutooo! It's me are you there?"

At first there wasn't a response before she heard the shuffling of feet from the other side as he came to the door. "Eh Ino-chan? what's up?" He asked

She paused before taking note of the handprint on his face and giggled a bit. "My god how hard did you hit yourself?"

"Oh that...I messed up and lost Tsunade-sama's thank you present."

She smirked and held out the box to him "I know you clumsy goof, it's right here."

His eyes went wide. "Ino! You found it!"

"Yeah you dropped it while you were saying hi, I was gonna give it to you earlier but you left already." She huffed as she poked his chest "Be more careful next time, it's a really nice gift to loose so carelessly ya know."

"Hm you're right, but really thank you for finding it. How do you want me to make it up to you?"

She was about to speak before her stomach growled softly, Naruto bursted into laughter as she quickly covered her stomach and blushed in embarrassment.

She pouted "Oh ha ha, I skipped dinner to return your gift remember!"

"How about it then, why don't I make you dinner?"

Ino tilted her head in disbelief " _You_ know how to cook Naruto?"

"A little bit yeah, I'm not terrible at it. So what do ya say hmm?" He grinned at her

She sighed and folded her arms "Alright Naruto-onii chan, show me your chef skills."

He gestured her inside his apartment, he felt rather bad that he didn't clean up more for her. Normally he has all his guy friends come over who don't care for the cleanliness of the place, but at least it wasn't a total pigsty like it could have been. He just had some ninja tools litter on the floor, a few shirts sprawled in a few scarred places, and a pile of papers near the bedroom. She wasn't totally disgusted by it either so that was a good sign. Ino sat comfortably on the couch while she watched him get to work on cooking.

" _If he actually knows how to cook ramen I'm going to laugh."_ she thought to herself

Whatever it was, it actually smelled really good. Who would have thought the Uzumaki Naruto knew how to cook? He finally came over to her smiling with 2 bowls of food with chopsticks poking out from them.

"And done! I hope you like it." He handed her a bowl

She nodded and inspected the dish he made. "Oyakodon? I haven't had this since I was little."

He broke the chopsticks "Yup, before he died the pervy sage told me how this was the dish my dad would make for my mom before she had me. Apparently she loved the stuff so much she asked him to write down how he makes it. Hope I followed the recipe right."

"Well, you didn't burn anything to ground so you did good so far…" She took a taste of his cooking and smiled with astonishment.

Naruto looked at her both confused and concerned "So, how is it?"

"Not bad! This is pretty good Naruto." She chimed as she started to eat more

He smiled with pride as he started to eat as well. They had dinner together and Ino even tried her hand at baking, it was a true test of cooking skills. She made sata andagi but the process left the kitchen a mess as flour was got on the both of them, along with some of the dishes and the stove. It was an enjoyable process nonetheless, the sweets she made turned out delicious in the end. After they cleaned up the kitchen it was about 8 at night now, they were enjoying each other's company as they sat on the couch.

"Ino, you're cloths are covered in flour…" He chuckled

"So are yours Naruto-baka…" She rolled her eyes

"Don't you want to change out of them into something else?"

"Eh, I'll just change when I get home don't worry about it."

"Are you sure? _You'd have to walk home all covered in flour._ " He said with a hint of sarcasm

"You know I'd need a shower too Naruto, _are you trying to convince me to stay the night?_ " she leaned on his shoulder

"That depends, would you _like_ to spend the night?" He slyly raised an eyebrow

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt, but don't you get any funny ideas alright?" She turned and looked somewhat sternly at him

"Yes ma'am of course." He nodded with a worried expression

She returned to her cheerful expression. "Good, now I'll be in the shower if you need me~" she hummed

He watched her get up and leave as the sweat dripped nervously from his head. " _This girl…_ " He thought while getting up to get her something to change in. He had some pajamas that he never wore hanging in his closet: They were sky blue with chibi foxes on the pants and shirt, he wasn't sure if these were something a girl would like seeing how they were for a guy but there was only one way to find out.

Ino poked her head from bathroom, her hair wrapped in one of his towels. "So about those cloths eh?"

He blushed "R-Right right. Here, these are clean you can try these on." He said as he handed the pjs to her with his eyes closed tightly.

She quickly took the cloths and tried them on "They're cute but a little bit too big for me…"

"Sorry about that, I can search for something else."

"No no these are fine." She finally came out of the bathroom the shirt looked more like a smock as the pants hung loosely around her waist. "See, no biggy."

"But you...you look really cute."

She started to blush as she grinned and rubbed the back of her head. "Oh come on, these are _your_ pjs remember?"

"Yeah but it doesn't change that you look cute in them."

"S-Sooo, aren't you gonna give me a pillow and blanket for the couch?" She easily changed the subject to avoid the encroaching awkwardness.

"The couch? Oh don't worry about that, I'm gonna sleep on the couch, you can sleep in my room for the night."

"EH!?" Ino looked baffled as she turned pink in the face

Naruto was equally confused "W-What? You can sleep in the bed! That's what a host would do right?!"

"N-Naruto! No don't do that!"

"You don't _seriously_ want to sleep on that lumpy couch, plus its not- you know...It's not right for me to sleep on my bed while you sleep out here."

Ino's blush was growing worse as he continued his gentleman gesture "I won't- I'm not gonna hog your bed just because you wanna be a gentleman. I'm fine with the couch!"

"Well I'm not!"

She looked up at him as he was blushing when he said that " _he really would rather me have his bed…_ " She pouted and walked towards his bedroom doorway, but not before motioning for him to follow. "Let's meet in the middle...A-And share y-your bed okay?" her face still very pink with blush

"Are you...Are you sure Ino?"

"Yes, but _still_ no funny stuff!"

He just gave a nodded as he turned the lights off and followed her into his bedroom. It was very strange and weird at first, he had a decent full sized bed so they weren't uncomfortably close. Ino curled up under the covers while she looked out his window looking at view. Naruto unconsciously watched her while he climbed in bed as well.

"...Thank you."

"Hm?"

"I said thank you Naruto, for...doing this for me and all."

"Oh, No problem…"

"Are you excited for tomorrow?"

"Heh, sure am. I know Tsunade will have a huge party for the occasion with loads of alcohol. You know how she loves to drink."

She giggled "Yeah, it's gonna be fun. Soon you'll be the real deal after that…"

He nodded "Yup, I'll really be almost there. Seems too good to be true…"

She turned and faced him. "Nonsense! You've worked your butt off to get where you are now, I say it's about damn time you got the job…" she said "You- You've really grown up and came over the top too." She held a hint of sadness in her voice

He looked at her for a bit "Ino?"

"Sorry, call me sentimental I guess…" She said while she wiped away a tear.

She was going to turn back around and face the window, but Naruto held her arm and pulled him close for a hug. Ino could hardly breathe let alone speak as this happened without warning, she was now staring at his shirt covered chest with her cheeks flushed with blush.

"You don't have to be sad Ino, I kinda like it when you get sentimental. It shows how much you care and-...it means a lot to me. So actually I should be thanking you…Thank you for caring about me like you have been all this time."

Ino was truly at a lot for words, she heard what he said and had absolutely no idea how to reply to that. How could _anyone_ reply to such a statement? She felt more tears well up in her eyes so she just hugged him back, getting as close to him as possible.

* * *

 **Wasn't that lovely? Here in case some people were wondering about some of the words I used**

 **-Oyakodon is a** **Japanese rice bowl dish, in which chicken, egg, sliced scallion, and other ingredients are all simmered together in a sauce and then served on top of a large bowl of rice. It means "parent and child donburi(rice dish)" and its called that because it uses both chicken and eggs.**

 **-Sata andagi is a Japanese desert and its basically their version of fried doughnuts**

 ***Thank Wikipedia for those little funfacts**


	17. Chapter 17

_8 hours earlier…_

 _The sun was shining through Naruto's apartment that morning. Naruto felt its warmth as he sluggishly started to wake up and come to his senses. Taking a peek at the alarm clock it was around 11:45am and Ino was still sound asleep curled in his arms. He gave a soft smile; secretly he didn't want to wake her and end this, he was starting to like the feeling of cuddling with her. Alas today was the big day, eventually they'd both have to get ready for it. Without waking her, he quietly got out of bed and picked up all the lingering dirty cloths for the laundry. The washing machine and dryer were next door so he quickly washed his and Ino's clothes and started to make breakfast while they were getting cleaned. He made some toast with honey and butter on top along with some eggs for the both of them._

 _Letting the food cool he ran into the bathroom for a quick shower and to brush his teeth. Ino eventually woke up to the sounds of the shower head hissing and the smell of toast filling her nose. She rubbed some of the sleep out of her eyes as she yawned and got out of bed to investigate the commotion._

" _Good job…" She said quietly to herself as she smiled at the breakfast Naruto had made for the both of them. He even had a glass of milk poured for her too, what a gentleman. As she ate Naruto came out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist when he tried to greet her._

" _Morning Ino!" He grinned "I see you like the breakfast I made huh? That's good...Ino?"_

 _She soon turned bright red as she shooed him into his bedroom to get dressed rather forcefully, but he had to explain that the cloths were still in the washing machine. Still, she persisted and pushed him into the room insisting that she would get them when they were done._

 _Later once the clothes were nice and clean, they were both dressed about to head out the door before Ino spoke._

" _Hold on I think you should wait a sec…"_

" _Why what's wrong?"_

" _Think about it, what would happen if someone saw us walking out of your apartment together?"_

" _That...we're boyfriend and girlfriend so what? Most think that way when they see us hanging out together."_

" _Yeah but what do boyfriends and girlfriends do?"_

 _He thought for a moment before turning red "Good….point...I'll see you tonight right?"_

 _She giggled "Wouldn't miss it for the world!"_

Present time

True to her were Ino was there at the public gathering as people from the village were congratulating Naruto on his preparation of being the Hokage. Tsunade was moved to tears by the gift and thank you card he gave to her, and told him he's still got a month to really improve his status ever since he and Sasuke were finally able to be chunin. For now it was a time of celebration and happiness for everyone.

While weaving his way through the crowd, Naruto finally found Ino. She was talking with some of the other villagers while wearing one her more nicer summer kimonos.

"Well there's the future hokage himself. What all the popularity getting to you all ready?" She playfully teased

"Heh, well you know how it is being a _hero_ and all." He gave a playful wink at her

" _Ohh you two look so nice together!" "When's the wedding huh?" "How nice of the Future Hokage with his lady~"_

They both began to blush and quickly dismissed the comments about their closeness, but the more they bonded the more the comments continued as the night went on. They talked with their friends and drank sake with Tsunade, when the festivities were over it was around 11 at night. Ino was pretty tipsy, but thankfully Naruto didn't drink much during the celebration so he walked her home. She was full of giggles as she lumbered from side to side as they walked the street that evening, rambling and laughing about events that happened.

"Naruu-kun that was wonderfull no?" She asked in a drunken tone

"Yeah, it was pretty fun now that I think about it. You sure had fun though." He chuckled

She giggled and grinned widely at the blonde. "You know what else is woonderfulll? Hmmm?"

"What?"

She nearly tripped over herself if Naruto hadn't been there to catch her, but she was laughing nonetheless. "Being- with you! It's the most wonderful thing- In the whoole world!" She answered in between hiccups.

Even though he knew she was drunk, Naruto could help but blush a bit when she said that while he held her. "Is that so huh?"

She nodded as she reached up and kissed him on cheek. "Very much so~"

He was not expecting that from her at all, he just turned and looked at her with the same baffled expression. Ino in turned simply nuzzled in the crook of his neck while letting out a small giggle "Are you gonna take me home yet? You blushy goof~"

He came back to his senses somewhat, and remembering to take her back home. "Er- Yeah yeah, we're almost at your place don't worry."

She pouted "Ohh, I was hoping to have another sleepover with you tonight. It's not too late is it?"

"I-Ino I don't know I mean...you're kinda drunk and-"

She tugged lightly on his jacket "Come on please _Naruto-kun_?" she pleaded

He started to sweat nervously looking down at her, it's hard to tell girls no. Especially girls he _liked._ At times like this he wished he had Sasuke's ice cold heart so he could make this easier, but with a sigh of defeat he turned directions and hopped rooftops to get back to his place quicker. Once there he unlocked the door, setting her down on the couch and let out a tired yawned. Ino sluggishly got up from the couch and wobbled after him as he retired to his bedroom. He didn't realized she had followed him until he met her with a kiss on the lips while he was in the middle of taking off his black tee. He wasn't ready for that kiss either, but it felt amazing regardless. He could still taste some of the lychee sake from the party on her lips.

She pulled away about about 45 seconds and looked at him with her cheeks pink with blush.

"I've...really wanted to do that you know…" She whispered

Naruto stared back at her with the same level of blush on his face like hers, practically speechless with that to say.

She put a hand on his face and caressed it softly. "Can I, do it again?"

Without giving any thought, he immediately kissed her back with a bit more force. "Yes." he answered in the midst of their kissing.

She moaned softly while their lips explored the taste of each other's skin, Naruto was leaving a wet trail along the right side of her neck as she peppered his cheeks. His hands found their way around her waist and pulled her into a tight hug refusing to let go, Ino let out a tiny eep so is not to get squeezed too hard.

"N-Naruto…" she said breathlessly

"Ino…" He sat down on the bed looking up at her while holding hands

He could see the blush growing more and more apparent on her face even in the dark, but at the same time he saw tears starting appear too. He frowned, he didn't like to see her upset like this. Not after the good times they've had so far, nevermind if she was drunk or not she was truly starting to develope feelings for him, he finally saw it now.

"This is messed up Naruto…" She said softly "I shouldn't have said- I'm so sor-"

He cut her off "Don't apologize, if that's how you truly feel."

She gripped on to his hands harder trying in vain not to cry in front of him like this. "But, I wanted to be in better shape to tell you. Not half drunk like I am now…"

He shook his head smiled "Better late than never I say."

Her eyes went wide before she tackle hugged him on to the bed with tears streaming from her eyes. Naruto wasn't sure if this was good or bad, but he'll let it be for now, he gave a soft kiss on her forehead and hugged her.

"I guess this is where I say I love you huh?"

She laughed while wiping away her tears and looking up at him. "Yes you dumb goof, this is where you say it."

"Well alright then, I love you Ino."

"Tch, I love you too Naruto."

* * *

 **A/N: Some more fluff for you guys I hope you enjoyed it**


	18. Chapter 18

Today for Naruto, everything just felt...Interesting. Like a calm before the storm, everything in his life just felt like it was preparing him for something major to happen. The problem with this was, he had absolutely no clue just what this major event was. It couldn't have been his induction because Tsunade said that wouldn't happen for another month, and it wasn't anything in regards to another threat to the village because more people would be concerned. But then there was Sasuke.

He took note of his less than normal behavior: One day he's moody, the next he's fine, another he's ready to kill. It was very strange even for Sasuke to have these types of issues, so he took it upon himself to hopefully relieve some of the Uchiha's stress with some combat after he saw him with Sakura. Indeed it was something Sasuke needed, by the looks of the training grounds Sasuke needed to destress _badly_.

"Sasuke wait before you destroy the training grounds, do you mind explaining to me why you're so pissed today?"

He didn't say anything at first but then looked to Naruto. "I need a pen and some paper…"

Naruto gave a raised brow to him before giving him a piece of notebook paper and a pen from his bag. "Uh okay...here."

He watched as Sasuke gripped onto the pen as he fiercely began to write, Naruto was almost nervous by this. Just what in the world was going on? "Rough day huh?" He nervously chuckled.

When Sasuke finally finished the pen broke in his palm snapping in two. He winced a bit realizing the cramps in his hand. "Damnit…"

"So it _is_ a rough day for you…"

He cracked his wristed and put his letter in the envelope and handed it to him. "...Just give this to Hinata...Please…"

"Sure but...What's wrong did something happen between you guys?"

He started to walk ahead "We slept together…"

"EH!? YOU! A-AND H-HINATA?!"

He winched at Naruto loudmouth "Yes! Dammit Naruto keep your voice down, don't tell the whole fucking village." He hissed while holding his head

Naruto flinched "Sorry sorry I just...I didn't think you were going to do that so soon. You know with Tsunade's agreement and all-"

"I don't fucking care about that stupid agreement anymore. I stopped caring ever since I got to see her that night of your party."

"Wow, you have some strong feelings for Hinata don't you?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "What else am I supposed to do with the woman I've had sex with 3 times now?" He asked with heavy sarcasm

Naruto nearly stopped dead in his tracked "3?! Sasuke what the hell! I know you love her but where's the self control!?"

"Naruto when you are presented with something truly beautiful, you'll want to lose self control too. Don't try to act mature _now_...besides she didn't seem bothered by it…"

"I cannot believe it... _You_ of all the people in the world _you_ would do all of this for shy Hinata-chan."

"Shy Hinata-chan is my girlfriend now so...I guess it's whats to be expected."

He chuckled "Well then that's good. Kudo's to you for toughing through all of this mess in one piece."

" _Oh you're too kind."_

"Hey I mean it, just be care that you don't trip and fall on your own ass for not paying attention."

" _I'll take your words to heart grandmaster."_

"You teme you're just making fun of me…"

"You make it easy, and it's still fun after all these years."

He pouted as Sasuke smirked a little at him. "So did you finally pick between Sakura and Ino?"

"Uh...In a way, I did...I think…"

"And you made fun of me and my choices…"

"I want to do this right okay? I'm not trying to step on anyone's feelings or anything like that!"

"Sometimes accidents happen."

"Hnm...Speak for yourself."

"And when it does happen what will you do? You know that misery has habit of plaguing the both of us by now, and we can cry about it or do something so what will you do when that happens?"

" _You have such wise sage advice Sasuke-ojiisan~"_

"Hn. Dumbass"

"Hee hee~ Smartass."

* * *

 **A/N: I gotta say I love to write the dialogue between Sasuke and Naruto its a lot of fun (even if its ooc or whatever) they are my favorite brotp**


	19. Chapter 19

Ino and Hinata sat in the tea shop not saying a word, both them still lingering back to their events from the weekend. They were supposed to have a day of hanging out but it would seem that the two them have only been lost with their thoughts about their significant others.

"S-So um, did you have a good weekend Ino?" Hinata was the first to ask

Ino started to feel the blush creep back on her face just thinking back on everything made it hard to say sane. "...Yeah! Yeah it was good I...had a good weekend- how about you?"

"I-I did too! It was n-nice…"

Ino gave a half hearted nod and smile as the waitress gave them their tea. Another 5 minutes of silence fell upon them before Ino broke it with a heavy sigh. "I'll be honest with you, this weekend I've spent _2 nights with Naruto at his place._ " She finally confessed as she was taking a sip of her tea. "No funny business or anything like that! He made me dinner the first night and we cuddled, but the second night after the announcement celebration...Things got a little- weird…"

"Weird how?"

"I was drunk unfortunately and in my drunken state I-...I kissed him and we made out for a while and I think I accidentally confessed Hinata!" She panicked

Hinata watched as her friend slumped her head on the table, this made her feel worse after hearing about her adventure this weekend. "W-Well Ino…It's n-not as bad as you think…"

She poked her head up "Huh?"

Hinata started to turn red out of shame and embarrassment as she twiddled her thumbs. "The day after our girls night, I-I want to deliver groceries to S-Sasuke-kun but…"

Ino started to raise a brow "Hinata what did you do?"

"It was so bad of me Ino! I wasn't ready for it!"

"Ready for wh- HINATA YOU DID?!" She slammed her hands down on the table and went wide eyed in disbelief.

Hinata stammered as she quickly hushed her friend "Yes yes it's true h-he took my virginity! Please don't tell anyone Ino! We could get into serious trouble!"

Ino was out of breathe, Hinata was known to _everyone_ as the shy, quiet, innocent little virgin. Come to find out she has slept with Uchiha Sasuke as her first! "Oh. My. God…I never would have thought it, of course I won't tell but...wow Hinata!" she took a bigger sip of her tea "That night must have been really special for you huh?"

The Hyuga nodded sheepishly "The first night was v-very special…"

"Wait a minute... _first night?_ Hinata what do you mean _first night_?"

Hinata didn't say a word as she looked away "We've...slept together...3 times so far…."

Ino choked on her tea by how shocked she was, Hinata panicked and tried to help her the best she could without causing a scene. "Ino oh no I'm so sorry I'm really very sorry don't choke pleeease!"

"3! Oh wow 3 times! I can't. I don't. Hinata I was horribly wrong about you!"

Hinata was as red as a tomato at this point "Ino nooo its not like that please I didn't mean it!" She protested

"Geeze, it seems we both have trouble with guys huh…" Ino sighed

"Seems so…" Hinata agreed glumly

"Hmm I guess by now this also means that you're pretty serious with him too?"

She nodded "What about you and Naruto?"

"We-...He said I love you to me...I said I love you too and...we just left it as that."

"Do you think, maybe it's time to take the next step?"

"What, ' _oh okay so because we said I love you , we're dating now.'_ I wish." Ino said while finishing her tea

"Well I mean, that's literally how Sasuke and I got together…"

"That's a different story Hinata, you two had developed feelings for each other over time beforehand."

"But didn't you develop feelings for Naruto? I mean if you're story is true then you have had plenty of time to gain more than a crush on him."

Ino paused a bit recollecting on that night she was drunk. "...He felt sorry for me."

"What?"

"He was being kind out of manors not because he meant it, he felt bad for me acting-"

"That's not Naruto."

Ino looked a bit shocked by Hinata's abrasive cut in as she spoke again. "The Naruto I had a crush on had genuine kindness, it didn't go away after we were young. He wouldn't have cared the way that he did for you if he truly didn't mean it. If he told you that he loved you, he meant it wholeheartedly without a doubt."

"I...I forgot about that. It was one of things that got me interested in him…" She smiled at Hinata "You're absolutely right Hinata, I need to throw caution to the wind and just be upfront with how I feel about him!"

Hinata grinned "I'm glad."

"And as far as you and Sasuke go, hold on to it. You've got something great going between the two of you , and it's only a couple more days before you'll be able to _really_ be _reunited_ if you catch my drift." She gave playful wink to Hinata and watched her blush in embarrassment

They knew that the upcoming days were going to be rough, but slowly and surely they were preparing for it with smiles on their faces.


	20. Chapter 20

Sakura was Ino while working in the hospital, there was an uneasy feeling between the two of them as they were helping Tsunade tend to the patients. Sakura was more concerned with Sasuke on the brain as she told Ino about his worsening condition. Ino tried to console her worries by saying that he will be fine and that she shouldn't try to intervene with his relationship with Hinata, but Sakura didn't seem satisfied with that.

"Honestly, this doesn't feel right Sakura…" Ino warned

"I know but it's the right thing to do Ino, for everyone's sake."

Ino kept a perplexed look "Are you really sure? I mean Sasuke's your teammate and all, shouldn't you ask him how he feels about all this first?"

Sakura frowned "I'd try but he's always in a hurry or off doing something else. He bottles everything in Ino, it's really not healthy at all."

Ino rubbed the back of her head "It all just sounds so shady, I don't like all of this looming over our heads…Hinata's our friend."

"She is, which is why it would be the best choice for all of us if I fix it now before it gets worse. I don't like it either, but I'm sure things will turn out for the better."

Ino sighed and looked to Sakura before walking out of the hospital. The atmosphere felt too saddening for her liking. She knows that Sakura had very strong feeling for Sasuke for the longest time so she knows the connotations that were attached. They had a rivalry that nearly cost them their friendship when they were young, she'd hate to see such a fate happen for a second time. She thought back to what Hinata said about Naruto, " _He wouldn't have cared the way that he did for you if he truly didn't mean it. If he told you that he loved you, he meant it wholeheartedly without a doubt."_

"If he really meant it or not, I have to know. Mopping around won't solve anything!" She said to herself while walking towards his apartment.

Oddly enough before she could knock on his door he came out quickly and quietly checking to make sure his door was locked.

"Naruto?" She raised a brow

"Oh I-Ino! How's it going?" Naruto stammered

She put both hands on her hips. "Oh no, none of that shady behavior mister. What's going on with your apartment? Who's in there!?" She asked with anger

He quickly hushed her voice the best he could but she still insisted upon entry. "Ino wait! You can't go in there you'll wake'em up! Sasuke's a grumpy asshole when he doesn't get much sleep..."

"S-Sasuke's in your apartment!?"

"Its a long story I'll explain somewhere else- lets just go!" He grabbed her by the hand and jumped on top of the roof tops until they reached the stairs leading to the faces of the hokages. There he sat there with a sigh of relief and explain what happened on their night out of drinking.

Ino sat there in disbelief while shaking her head. "Unbelievable."

"Well believe it, Sasuke's a slow dying wreck over all of this and he's too stubborn to admit that he needs help." Naruto nodded

"That's just terrific… and by help, Sakura's now taking things into her own hands…"

"I don't think that's good news for anyone...is it…"

"Not when she's still got feelings for Sasuke! Naruto you have to stop her from doing this!" She pouted and pointed to him

"EH!? Me!?"

"Yes! You! You're her teammate you have to talk some sense into her, if anyone can do that its you!"

"I would but I also have to deal with the ticking time bomb that is Sasuke remember? If I try to talk to her without taking care of Sasuke, who know's what that crazed teme will do!"

They both had the image of Sasuke going insane and randomly kidnapping Hinata before sighing. This was a rapidly growing problem with not enough time to fix it.

* * *

 **A/N: I do apologize for the shortness, but now this is where my 2 stories sync plots together and things will make more sense now. For those just joining in by now this is sorta like the sister story to my SH fanfic _"With Love, Hinata" and basically what that means its in the same story but told from a different pairings perspective. If you haven't read that one first this one may be a little wonky so if you can I'd recommend giving it a read._**


	21. Chapter 21

It was about 4 in the afternoon and Naruto watched in mixed amusement, as his close friend had a horrid look on his face mixed with the lingering effects of his hangover still taking hold of him. This was really funny, even though he knew better than to laugh at the situation. He was just on cloud nine enjoying the Uchiha's suffering.

"Wipe that smile from your face dobe…" he grunted as he reached for some ginger ale

" _What grin Sasuke-san?"_ He asked sarcastically

Sasuke growled his eyes while turning onto his side. "Be glad I have this hangover, otherwise I'd be punching you in the face right now…"

"Yeah yeah you're welcome teme, but I think you've got bigger problems than me right now don't you think?" Naruto was trying to point out how oblivious his friend was being about the elephant in the room

"We've been over this, I'm not talking with Sakura about my issues. Ever."

"Damn it Sasuke, you're too stubborn for your own good you know that!? What if she says something to Hinata huh? Then what?"

"Naruto you forgot about what happened the last time I tried to have a conversation with her…"

"You'd seriously use the rinnegan on her _again?"_ He made sure to put emphasis on the question

He paused a bit before speaking, actually slightly interested in Naruto's proposition "No, but that's not a bad idea…"

"Stop it. You're turning melodramatic all over again."

"I'm sure you'd be the same damn way too if you had to deal with this."

"Well this can all be avoided if you just-"

"Dammit Naruto we're going in circles this is stupid!"

"Well you're the one with the hangover and the migraines and everything else that is wrong, I'm just trying to help _you_." He pointed at the sick Uchiha "If not for your stubborn ass, don't you think you owe it to Hinata to get better? I'm pretty sure she's worried like hell over you by now."

Sasuke sighed a bit and covered his ears "...She doesn't know."

"THAT MAKES IT WORST! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Naruto blurted out enraged

"I don't _want_ her to know." he hissed "She has enough to worry about, I don't want her to worry about me. _Especially_ me."

"I don't think you know Hinata as well as you thought Teme, that's one of her main qualities! She's a caring person! You've seen how she was when she had a crush on me, now she actually loves you and you're leading her in the dark!?" Naruto was genuinely upset over his friend's behavior.

"So you think it's better for her to have a constant fear about what might happen to me? To get her nervous or even scared about my conditions? I know she's caring which is why I intently didn't tell her what was really going on. If you choose to believe me or not I really couldn't care less, but I actually do love her too, and I won't do that to her." He glared at the blonde half-assed because his right eye was twitching from not taking any medication today.

Naruto sighed "Shouldn't you tell her that then?"

Sasuke closed his eyes and slouched on his back while on the couch. "What, get angry with her and use my frustrations to get my point across?"

"Hell no, just be honest with her."

"Hn."

"You'd be surprised what happens when you speak from the block of ice that is your heart."


	22. Chapter 22

It just seemed like things were progressively getting worse and worse as Ino sat with Hinata consoling her. Ino's fear was realized as Hinata explained what Sakura had done, she told Hinata about Sasuke's actual conditions and that an appropriate option would be to end the relationship with him. Ino noticed the note Hinaata recently wrote and read over it, even on the paper she found her tear stains. Hinata was destroyed over this, like someone took her world and smashed it into a thousand pieces.

" _I warned you not to get involved….Damnit Sakura what did you do?!"_ Ino thought while she handed Hinata some tissues "Hey Hinata, it'll be okay...There's going to be a way to fix all this I just know it." She tried to reassure her

Hinata shook her head. "Sakura was right, I-I did this to him...I wasn't thinking clearly when I said yes to that _st_ - _stupid_ agreement." She said while trying to calm down

"Does anyone think clearly when they're in love? No of course not. It's not your fault stop blaming yourself…"

This was tearing her apart on the inside, she should have tried to stop Sakura with more initiative when the chance was available. Ino was afraid something like this would happened, but she didn't think Sakura would actually go through with it. She thought they were all still friends…

But now it seems all that's really going on was all of her _friends_ going behind each others backs, this was much worse than from when they were younger. It was much _sadder_ from when they were younger too, this time there was a chance this could have been avoided. Instead Ino tried to gamble with faith and lost tremendously.

Hinata was about to lose the love of her life, Kami only knows what that'll do to Sasuke, then it will domino right to Naruto and back at Sakura. This was indeed a very messed up situation. The only silver lining to everything was that she didn't flat out just dump him straight away. In that case it could give Ino a second change, even if it was a small one to make things right.

She hugged Hinata as she cried. "Hinata listen, it may seem bad right now, and at the moment things may look horrible, but you love Sasuke don't you?"

"Y-Yes...I do" She answered in a shaky voice

"Then you have to just, take all of that love and-...and hold on to it for dear life! I know Sakura said you should let him go but- No. Fuck that." She gripped Hinata's shoulders slightly "If you're honest with yourself and you love him like you've always had, then you hold on and don't ever let go alright?"

Hinata was moved by Ino's words and wiped away some of her tears while nodding. "I-I don't...I don't know what I'm doing anymore Ino, the letter I wrote...My feelings, I've been getting sick too-"

"I'll drop the letter of at his place myself so you don't have to worry about it. I'll keep you posted if anything happens too, but in the meantime you have got to get better missy. Can't have Sasuke sick AND worrying his head over you, he'll go mad!" Ino said with some humor

Hinata smiled and even laughed a bit herself as she nodded. Good, a smile can go a long way, they were both going to need a smiles they could find to get through the struggle that was in front of them.

* * *

 **A/N: We see the plot is now alive and well with the couples here so let us see what shall happen next.**


	23. Chapter 23

_Around 3pm_

 _Naruto looked less than happy as he held the ice pack to his left eye while Ino brought in flowers. Sasuke was recently brought in for drug overdosing and it was uncertain of how his condition would progress, so for now he was put on immediate bed rest._

" _Naruto just remember, he's our friend and you did the right thing." Ino reminded him as she left the small bouquet of daisies in the vase by the Uchiha's windowsill_

 _He grunted "Yeah...Just wish the reward wasn't a black eye though." He complained as he held the ice pack_

 _She frowned "It looks bad now but remember he's not in a ummm, good place to think!" she tried to vouch in his favor_

" _Bah! I knew the teme was crazy, this is just a new type of crazy." He protested._

 _She crossed her arms and pouted, as if Hinata wasn't sad enough now this was a problem too. Things just weren't looking up for anyone._

" _I wouldn't worry too much over him, He's incredibly strong. He'll be awake and calling me a dobe in no time." He reassured_

" _Yeah… I only wish he could say that to Hinata, she's a wreck over all of this."_

 _He frowned a bit before walking up behind her and hugging her. "You're starting to get that way too, so as you tell her to relax I will tell you."_

 _She blushed before she shivered "Your hands are cold…"_

 _He grinned "My bad, but I'm sure you'll help warm it up~"_

 _She rolled her eyes while smirking "We shall see about that."_

Present time around 7pm

Naruto was back in the hospital room with Sasuke as they were contemplating different types of strategies on how to deal with this giant conundrum. Since violence was out of the question, the Uchiha found himself stuck like a rock in a hard place.

"You could talk to Sakura…" Naruto offered for what seemed like the 18th time.

"No."

He sighed in annoyance "You really are trying to avoid the obvious aren't you, it's not like she's Orochimaru!"

Sasuke was reluctant to speak as he was still _thinking_. "...I could write her a letter."

"Huh?"

"I could write her a letter and have you give it to her, it'll tell her to meet me here so we can talk."

"Well you can't really see her because of the agreement remember?"

"She works around the hospital sometimes doesn't she?"

"I think so…"

"Then she's not seeing me, she'll be working. I'm a patient here so I'll lie and say I need her assistance."

" _In more ways than one…"_ Naruto replied in a low mumble before Sasuke threw a cup at his head.

"It's a better alternative than talking to Sakura, so I'm going to do it."

He gave a heavy sigh before getting up "Alright alright fine, write your letter and I'll come by tomorrow morning. And at least try to get some sleep while you're here."


	24. Chapter 24

Today Ino decided to work in the hospital again with Shizune for the morning. By the way she was fumbling over papers and sweating nervously, Ino knew something was up and had to find out. It wasn't hard, in fact Shizune seemed more than relieved to explain the situation seeing how it happened not too long ago.

"Is...Is she still here Shizune?" Ino asked

"I believe so, you could check the main lobby...she was really upset over it."

Ino nodded "I know…"

When her morning shift was over she rushed down to the lobby to find Hinata, thankfully she was easy to find. She was sitting down while holding a hand over her stomach, it was as bad as Shizune described.

"How are you holding up?" Ino tried to sound cheery

Hinata didn't say anything at first, she shook her head. "I-Ino it's really bad…"

"I heard from Shizune, do you want to tell him? He is here you know…"

She perked up slightly "S-Sasuke-kun is here?"

"He's on the third floor, he was recovering from overdosing. We can pay a visit, no one will know…"

Hinata nodded as they both walked up to his room, they didn't really say much on the way. There wasn't really much to talk about. They went in quietly when Ino saw that he was asleep, Hinata sat quietly next to him. Sasuke was a little better compared to when he was first brought in, the color was better on his face and his fever and headaches seemed to have died down as well.

All of this weighed on Hinata with a heavy heart as she held his hand softly. Ino could she how Hinata was trying her hardest not to cry.

"Hinata, this wasn't your fault." Ino said softly

She held his hand a little more as she shook her head. "He shouldn't be like this…"

"It'll be alright Hinata, he's going to get better. Sasuke loves you remember?"

"I-I know, but sometimes I just wish that...Maybe if things were different-"

"Please don't talk like that Hinata." Ino cut her off "If things were different then you would have never had the experience you had with Sasuke. You're in love, there's nothing to regret about that."

Hinata wanted to stay at his bedside but they knew that she couldn't, the pain was written all over her face as she let go of his hand and started to cry. Ino walked her out of the room, Sasuke shouldn't have to wake up to his girlfriend crying on his bedside. She hugged her and tried her best to ease her troubles but it was growing harder by the second. How do you ease someone's mind when their going through something like this?

She could only say so much but she wasn't like Naruto, when he spoke the world would listen and things would get better. When _he_ spoke, he would somehow find a way to brighten even the darkest of times. He was amazing like that, a golden boy at his best. Ino even felt her own tears falling down the sides of her face, as she hugged Hinata slightly tighter the more she thought about it. They didn't know what to do. Their situations were too much on the both at that moment, and made them realize how much they truly needed the men they loved.

* * *

 **Sorry to end it on a sad note like that, don't worry though it will get better as the story comes to a close.**


	25. Chapter 25

Minutes felt like hours while Ino and Hinata sat in the lobby solemnly as the people walked by them. Looking up at the clock on the wall, Ino realized they've been sitting for the past hour and a half now when she heard Naruto call out to him. He could tell by their sad faces that things weren't doing so good. When they explained the situation Ino quickly reminded him that it was on a strictly need-to-know basis and that he had to keep his voice down.

The mood soon shifted from bad to worse when Hinata started to mention Sakura. At first it didn't seem to bother Ino much, until she heard herself what _exactly_ Sakura told Hinata. Her worst fear was made true, she knew from first hand experience what happens to Sakura when it came to Sasuke. The fact that she was really ready to become a _homewrecker_ over it sent Ino over the edge with rage and went to confront her about it.

Naruto could barely keep up with how fast she stormed away to find Sakura, he even tried to stop her at first. But Ino wasn't having any of that, not after what Sakura has done. She had to put her foot down, influencing Hinata to break up with Sasuke was bad enough on its own. Letting Hinata get an abortion over all of this? No, that crossed the line. When Ino found Sakura she immediately smacked her as hard as she could across the face. Ino never felt anger fume through her mind that much until that moment, she said some harsh banter to _best friend._ They argued and cursed at each other and were very close to actually fighting one another, but Ino stopped. She didn't want to fight and cause a scene in the hospital now with all this going on, plus Naruto was outside of the room watching all of this. It wouldn't look good to see two of his friend actually fighting, so in the end Ino walked out with the linger hostility in her heart.

Naruto and Ino talked for a bit after that incident was over, it was mostly just him trying to calm her down and making sure she doesn't go back to Sakura for round 2. It ended with him telling her to go back to Hinata and make sure she was alright.

" _No doubt she could use a friend."_ He told her

It was true in every sense, Hinata did need a friend and now it seemed that she needed a friend herself as well. This was the second time her friendship with Sakura was dashed, over something so simple as a relation with a man. Since that was now gone she really didn't have else to confide in besides her teammates, Hinata or Tenten. Sakura was like a sister to her for so many years. It wasn't while they were fighting, but now it was actually starting to hurt in her heart over all the nasty things she had said.

However she was reminded of the _brother_ she had when he grinned at her. He told her that he would do his best to set things right, he even hugged her as a way to "seal the deal". Secretly she knew he just wanted a reason to hug her, but right at that moment she didn't have a care in the world about why he hugged her. Naruto was such a good friend, brother, he was everything to her.

" _I love you."_ Escaped her lips when they hugged. They were both initially shocked by it but then Ino took a deep breath and said it again this time with a confident smile on her face. "I love you Naruto." He smirked and kissed her forehead before leaving "I love you too Ino."

The rest of the day was spent with Hinata back at the Hyuga estate. She figured some time away from the hospital would be better as she told told her what happened with Sakura.

"No one has ever r-really stuck up for me...I-I don't know how to thank you Ino…" Hinata said hugging her pillow

"Well a good place to start is to not get an abortion…"

She blushed a bit before looking away "What if h-he doesn't want to keep it?"

"Then let _him_ tell you, don't just do it because you're scared. And besides, didn't he once mention something about restoring his clan?"

"Once during the war I believe so."

"Well he's gotta start _somewhere_ riight?"

"Oh goodness…" Hinata gave a heavy sigh as the blush grew more apparent on her face

"Jokes aside, all I'm saying is to at least hear from him about what to do first. He'd be devastated to know that you were pregnant and then found out you did that when he truly wanted to be a father."

Hinata nodded "That's true…Ino I really owe you for e-everything you've done-"

She shook her head "Think nothing of it, we're friends it's what we do."

"But...W-What about you with Naruto and Sakura?"

Ino gave a small sigh "I won't lie, I honestly don't know what'll happen with me and Sakura. We were like sisters you know, and now then this happened. So I'm going to let fate handle that one…" she felt a smile creep on her face thinking back to earlier with Naruto. "As far as things with Naruto goes well...I took your advice, got to know him better and all that."

"And what happened?"

She chuckled a bit "I fell for him. Told the goof I loved him, back at the hospital...He said he loved me too. So I guess as far as statuses go, we are technically a thing now. We never really sat down and talked about it, we're just rolling with the punches for now."

Hinata smiled "That's still wonderful news Ino."

"I know right? The best news of the day…"

"Rather Ironic too…" Hinata pointed out her window showing Ino the sunset

Ino nodded "Yeah...Who knew irony was so beautiful?


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Quick warning this one is probably one of my shorter chapters and its filler stuff so I can finish it off strong**

* * *

"Do you miss him?"

"A little bit."

Naruto sat with Ino on top of the heads of the hokages, particularly his father the Yondaime. It was late in the afternoon when Ino swung her legs lightly as she watched some birds fly by.

"I bet he's really proud of you, following in your dad's footsteps and all that..."

He nodded "Heh yeah, it's a family business being a hero and all." he chuckled

She smiled and leaned on his shoulder. "Hm, I got a question for you."

"What's up?"

"Well, you mentioned family and all so I was wondering, do you want a family?" She blushed when he asked

"Me? I- um. Huh, I never really gave it much thought...I mean with everything going on, and Sasuke's gonna be a dad. I dunno." He shrugged while blushing "Could be fun though, having a little guy running around…"

She smirked "Slurping ramen faster than his dad, learning how to use rasengan…"

He started to chuckle when he thought about it. "Oh but what if there was a girl? Hnn I'm not good with little girls…"

Ino pouted "Oh come on, you don't think a girl could do the rasengan too?"

He had an image in his head of a little girl trying to learn the rasengan in one of those frilly little pink dresses. He even started to chuckle a bit "It would be kinda cool if my daughter knew the rasengan."

"I think it'd be awesome." she boasted

"Just like her mom…"

Ino quickly turned pink "Her mom?!"

"I- Ugh- I m-meant...The k-kids mom! The kids mom would be awesome!" He tried to explain

She sighed and folded her arms, he was highly confused by her actions but then she just stuck her tongue out at him. He did the same and then tried to hug her but she quickly reminded him that they were sitting directly on top of the yondaime's statue of his head.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Some this should be the last of the filler stuff so now I can focus on the ending. I do apologize for the lenght but I hope the content makes up for it!**

* * *

It was another slow day at the flowershop for Ino, but she didn't mind it today. She slumped over on the counter letting her mind wonder about different things that would arise.

"Uzumaki Ino… Ino Uzumaki…" She mindlessly hummed to herself while grinning

"Hmm we would have _really_ blonde kids...although I heard his mom had red hair…" She thought as she pulled out a small notebook and a pencil

She made a T-chart and listed one side "boys" and the other side "girls". She started to list different names for her children should she have any of her own one day. Looking back on it, she grew a tad bit worried because she could only come up with one name for the boys side.

"Man...All I could come up with was _Natsuo_." She sighed in defeat. "Hopefully I only have 1 boy, they are so reckless…" she chuckled a bit as her thoughts turned to Naruto for a bit "Reckless, and kind…"

She then looked to the girls side and marveled at how many names she had, counting through she had three names listed. "Nikkou, Mitsuko, and Kikyo...Hmm I have a thing for light and the sun it seems…" She put the pencil to her chin "That makes four kids right there...but would I actually _want_ that many kids?" She put both hands on her cheeks and pouted.

Viewing Hinata with predicament it made her think about her own future. Hinata just started her pregnancy this month, and it was rumored that Temari was already 2 months into hers. The only one who didn't want kids for a while was Sakura, which made sense giving all the work that she does. Tenten wants to hold off on children until after marriage, seemed like a smart plan.

She talked about it with Naruto and for the most part he was on board with the idea of family life, but then begs the question of what will become of their relationship? At the moment, they were "friendly lovers". That would be the best way to describe it, they weren't technically as serious like Sasuke and Hinata were. Nor were they anywhere close to being married or engaged or anything of that nature. Maybe it was about time that changed…

She was in love with him after all, there was no question about that. And Naruto felt the same way, so what was holding them back? All the contemplating made Ino furrow her brow the more she thought about it. The difficulty of her relationship problems were becoming annoying, and it was starting to stress her out.

"That's it. I've made up my mind, I'm going to ask him out. No more beating around the bush about it, no more dodging, I'm going to confess for real this time!" She said proudly with determination "I just need to actually find time to actually do it…" she facepalmed

* * *

 **A/N: The confidence in Ino's plan fills her with determination(undertale folks don't smite me.)**


	28. Chapter 28

With mixed emotions Naruto walked through the halls of the hospital looking for Sakura. The other night he met with Sasuke to talk about the next course of action with his situation, and apparently after having a fever dream he's decided to speak with her today at noon. In all honesty he felt rather bad for Sakura, they were still good friends after all, but even she had a habit of overstepping boundaries. He only wished it wasn't with Sasuke. If he hasn't made his point across to her when they fought before with the war and Madara, he'd probably do it again if not twice as bad.

He found her at last talking with Shizune over some paperwork that was piled on the desk.

"Hello Shizune, Sakura-chan." He greeted

The waved as they were cleaning up. "Sakura, Sasuke wanted me to tell you that he wants to talk to you at noon in his room...just the two of you." He informed her

She perked up "Really? Thanks for letting me know! I'll be there right away" She was beaming with excitement.

He grinned at her, taking it for what it was worth and walked out of the hospital. Normally he would have tried to eavesdrop on their conversation, but this was one time he preferred not to know the outcome. He knows what Sasuke is capable of, but he gave him the benefit of the doubt in that he wouldn't get physically violent with her. He waited around for a bit until he went back to the Uchiha's room. There wasn't any blood so that was a very good sign, he wasn't smiling either the room was rather chilly. He told Naruto about what happened with Sakura and felt a bit relieved, he was in a way proud of Sasuke in how he handled it.

With the rest of the day to himself he decided to do a couple of low rank missions to earn a little extra cash. He ran into Lee and soon enough they were sparring for about 2 hours, it was always fun to spar with him. With still some daylight left, he opted to watch the sun go down from a top of the hokage's statues and think about things. In actuality the only thing he could think about was Ino. Given what happened, he began to worry about his own relationship with her. To call it a relationship felt like a stretch, he honestly had no clue what to call the bound between them anymore. She told him she loved him, and he told her he loved her. Why was this so hard to figure out?

"You could have given me a little advice on how to deal with girls old man…" He groaned as he looked at the statue of his father and gave a heavy sigh. "I like her… a lot. So should I just tell her that up front? Ngh that's too dumb I sound like a scared little kid…" He scratched his head "She's pretty cool to hang out with, she's nice and funny too...Huh, in a way she _is_ like mom…" He closed his eyes for a bit before he bolted up with inspiration. "Fingers crossed this works alright dad?" He hopped off the statues and raced down the streets looking for the jewelry store. He was in luck he made it just before they were closing. The owner and cashier looked worried as he was half out of breath.

"I...Would like...To get...A ring please…" He gasped before falling to his knees

They looked at one another and then the owner got him some water as the cashier showed him the rings. He saw how they all were glimmering in the light, they were all so fancy. He explained what he wanted to do with said ring and the cashier easily showed him the best ring for his endeavor: It was a silver ring with sapphires decorating it as the came together in the middle, it reminded him of how he prepares the rasengan. It was perfect, but he was worried as he saw the price of it. Owner smirked and told him it was half the price and Naruto bought it on the spot. He bowed in gratitude at the shop owner and cashier before he returned home, he could stop smiling and staring at it.

As he laid in bed he kissed the ring and placed it on his side table, he was thinking about what tomorrow's going to be like. He was a bit worried about when the right time to do it would be, it was almost humorous how he could be a hero but couldn't do something like this.

"It's all or nothing…" He said to himself before drifting off to sleep

* * *

 **A/N: Not gonna spoil what the ring is for...(I think you guys can figure it out)**


	29. Chapter 29

_Yesterday evening at the Hyuga estate…_

 _Hinata and Ino were enjoying each other's company over tea. Ino often checked in on her to make sure Hinata was doing alright since she had some slight sadness over Sasuke. She has also been getting morning sickness and overall feeling nauseous, but Ino assured her it wouldn't last through out the whole pregnancy._

" _Oi, Onee-chan Sakura is here." Hanabi called out to her._

 _Ino had had a concerned look, but knowing Hinata she nodded and let Sakura come in her room. The room quickly turned quiet out of awkwardness but Ino spoke first._

" _So Sakura, what brings you by?" She asked trying to sound civil_

 _She sighed softly "I know you probably hate me Ino, but I came by to apologize...to both of you."_

 _Ino folded her arms but didn't say much else. She exchanged glances with Hinata and then looked back to Sakura._

" _You were right, I was being extremely selfish. I chose jealousy over my own friends, and nearly forced one of them to stop being happy..." She began_

 _Ino and Hinata were listening to her words but then Hinata spoke up as she started to fiddle with some strands of her hair. "W-Wait before you continue Sakura there's something you should know."_

 _Ino frowned "Hinata I don't think-"_

" _I-It's alright Ino… Sakura, back when we were working together that day in the hospital I wasn't feeling well. A few days later after you told me about Sasuke-kun's hospitalization I was with Shizune and...I found out I was pregnant."_

 _Sakura went wide eyed as Hinata continued. "I would have told you s-sooner but...you st-still had your feelings for him a-and I didn't want to cause a-anymore trouble…" Her voice was broken up and the tears were welling up in her eyes._

 _Sakura was speechless, she just put a hand over her mouth as she started to cry as well._

" _That's what I was trying to tell you…" Ino said bitterly "You were so hooked on tearing them apart you didn't realize how just how bad the damage was being dealt for Hinata, our friend."_

 _Sakura sobbed quietly "Hinata, please forgive me for all of this...If we no longer remain friends I can accept that. I never meant to cause you this much pain, especially since you're...Oh my god I'm sincerely sorry! I should have just let my stupid crush go, but I got upset because someone else was in love with Sasuke and I had to watch. Instead of being supportive I went behind your back Hinata, and instead of listening I just shrugged your words aside Ino. You both have every right to resent and hate me right now I deserve it!"_

 _Ino watched with mixed emotions of anger and sadness as the tears rolled down her own eyes now. All three of them were crying now, but to their surprise Hinata went over to Sakura and hugged her._

" _H-Hinata?"_

 _Hinata didn't say anything at first but then Ino went over and hugged Sakura too._

" _I-Ino, why are you-"_

" _Just shut up alright?" Ino mumbled as she combed Sakura's pink locks with her hand "Even if I wanted to, I couldn't bring myself to hate you billboard brow…" She said in between sobs_

" _I don't w-want to hold this as a grudge against you Sakura...I would rather f-forgive you instead, because I'm still your friend…" Hinata added while trying to calm down_

 _All Sakura could do was nod as she held on tightly to both Ino and Hinata as she cried. Ino just looked at both of her friends, they have practically been through hell and back throughout the years. Even with this incident nearly breaking their friendship and ripping a couple's happiness to shreds, they were all still friends deep down. They were all still the young girls from the famous rookie nine who had their cute little crushes and determination to get better._

 _A few moments later, Hanabi poked her head inside the room with a worried expression._

" _Um, Onee-chan are you okay?"_

 _Hinata looked up and saw her younger sister and wiped her tears away. "Yeah, I'm okay. Tell father I'm letting my company spend the night with me."_

 _Earlier this morning_

 _After returning home from the unexpected sleepover with Hinata, Ino watched the rain hit the various flower petals as she put on her poncho getting ready to leave for a mission with her team. She was nearly on her way to the hokage's tower when someone called. "Wait."_

 _It was Sasuke, he looked better to say the least. When he asked where she was head he handed her his letter in hopes she could bring it to Hinata as soon as possible._

" _I'll give it to her right now." She replied_

 _He didn't openly display it, but she knew he was grateful. And luckily she was able to keep her word as she found Hinata in a tea shop by herself. She would have stayed longer but she didn't want to keep her teammates waiting so she handed it to her and was out the door._

" _I think you should really give this a good read."_

Present Time in The Land of Waves

The wind was howling as the rain poured down across the area, this was one of the worst storms yet. Team 10 was accompanied by Naruto as Tsunade sent them off as a disaster relief team due to the raging winds destroying parts of their buildings and on the verge of flash flooding. Ino was less than pleased with the wind as it kept whirling around her hair forcing her to put it into a wet and messy bun, so she tended to the villagers and helped any who were caught in madness. Shikamaru was the overseer of everything while Choji and Naruto tried to patch up any remaining builds the best they could.

"Tch, I hate the rain…" Shikamaru groaned as he dried his hair

Choji nodded in agreement as he shook some water out of his hair "What happened to Ino and Naruto?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes "The love birds are probably in the other Inn somewhere...It's fine, the worst part of the storm is passing…"

True to his assumption, they were in the inn. Ino was in the guest room they were allowed to used for the time they were staying. Because of the storm, more people were forced to stay so to save space Naruto opted to share the room with her. She was by the small vanity armoire brushing the tangles out of her hair when he came and slouched on the bed.

"Hey now, you'd better not be wet!" She protested

"Don't worry I'm dry." He chuckled

She sighed as she slumped next to him while they listened to the sounds of the storm outside. "It's really bad out there isn't it…"

"Yeah, no wonder Tsunade-sama sent us over…"

"We came just in time according to Shikamaru, the worst of the storm is over now…"

"That's good...Say, are you okay?"

"Me? Yeah I'm fine."

"You sure? You seemed a little...I don't down today."

She sighed and rolled on to her side, she still had lingering thoughts from last night. "You remember when me and Sakura fought back at the hospital?"

"Uh yeah you two were pretty heated. Why?"

"Well, she came over while I was with Hinata and she apologized for everything…"

"That's good then-...right?"

"If by good you mean we all ending up crying our eyes out for like half an hour."

"Oh...I'm sorry."

"No harm was done. In a way it was going to happen sooner or later."

He turned to face her "Still, I can't imagine a time where crying is fun. Are you guys still friends or…"

She nodded "Yeah we are, we might act a little weird towards one another at first but we'll be fine."

He grinned "I understand, I'm glad things worked out."

She smiled back "I am too."

He perked up "Hey...You hear that?"

She raised a brow "Hear what the rain- The rains stop!" She exclaimed

The both quickly threw on their shoes and went outside to see for themselves. The storm had indeed passed, the sky was colored with a dark pink, orange and pale dark blue as the storm clouds were rolling away from the area. It was truly a sight to see as all the towns people were looking up in awe and amazement of the natural beauty. Ino actually pointed out a rainbow that was just visible enough for all of them to see as the sun was setting.

"That's really something…" Naruto side while looking up at the spectacle

" _Well here goes…"_ Ino internally thought as she was mentally preparing herself. "You know what else is really something?"

"Huh? What?"

She started to blush but she shook it away. "You are. To me you are really something Naruto…" She said as she started to smile

His raised both his eyes in shock. "I-I am?"

She couldn't help but laugh, it was helping her shake the edge of her ever rising nervousness. "Of course you are! Look at you, you're one of the strongest shinobi I know. You're caring and headstrong...Always striding for the top...I guess what I'm really trying to say is-" She had to sigh and regain her concentration she was starting to shake she was that nervous

"I-Ino?"

"I'm really trying to tell you that, I don't just love you Naruto. I'm _in_ love with you." She grinned as the pink blush appeared across her cheeks.

He couldn't believe what she said, he nearly forgot what to say if not for the memory of him buying the ring the other day. He didn't hesitate to pull her in for a kiss and clasp her hands with his.

"When we get back home, come find me at the hokage's statues. I have something really important to tell you."

"What? But-"

"Trust me I think you'll like what I have to tell you."

* * *

 **A/N: And so it all comes together. Now all that is left is to end it!**


	30. Chapter 30

He _hated_ this feeling, he hated being nervous. He stood atop of his father's head statue with the small box in his pocket. He could win wars and take on goddesses, but _this?_ No way he was on pins and needles about the whole thing, but he knew in his heart this was what he wanted. He was putting everything on the line for her so he tried to summon courage to make sure he does this right. He kept on sighing heavily and pacing around a bit. " _What if she doesn't show? Should I check up on her at the flower shop?"_ He thought before quickly dismissing it. " _No no I gotta relax, she'll come. I know she will."_

After 15 more minutes Ino came up to the hokage's statues, he sighed in relief.

"Ino-chan you made it!"

She looked a bit out of breath. "Ah, sorry about that. I accidentally overslept and then I had to tend to the garden, I would have been here much sooner." she explained

He chuckled trying to remain cool "Heh no worries I was just scared you weren't going to show at all."

"No way I'd find a way to make sure I'd meet you, so now that I _am_ here what's this important thing you had to tell me?" she smirked

" _Okay here we go!"_ He exhaled the nervousness away

"First I gotta know, how long have you been in love with me Ino?"

She was a bit caught off guard by the question and started to pout. "I thought you had something important to tell me."

"I do I do! I'm just really curious to know."

She huffed "Well if you must know, it started out as a crush when we were younger. Back when you were off finding Sasuke. I didn't really know you like I do now and I knew you were head over heels about Sakura so I just kept it to myself. Now having gotten to be with you and spending more time with you, the crush came back stronger than ever."

He smiled and nodded

"Okay I told you, now come on tell me the important thing!"

"Are you _sure?_ " He playfully teased

"Ughgh! Yes Naruto I'm sure!"

"Well you confessed to me back at the Land of Waves, it made me realized something...I don't want you to be my sister Ino. I don't even want you as my girlfriend…"

She would have felt great sadness if he hadn't reached into his pocket and took out the small box and placed it in her hands, nodding for her to open it. She nearly dropped it at the sight of the ring and covered her mouth in an attempt to muffle her shriek.

"Instead I um...I want you to be my wife. That way, we'll enjoy everything together. The good and the bad!" He said while scratching the back of his head nervously "So...Do you want to be my wife Ino?"

She was overwhelmed with emotions, she couldn't contain her happiness. She was in tears with how happy she was. "Yes! Yes you goof yes!" She practically jumped right into his arms.

His joy was quickly turned to fear as he quickly realized where they were standing. He lost his footing on his father's head statue and slipped off. He nearly went deaf from Ino's scream as they fell, thankfully he was able to catch her just in time right in front of the hokage tower. Ino clung tightly in his arms as he laughed and the others looked in confusion. Naruto just grinned widely as he shouted "SHE SAID YES!"

* * *

 **A/N: Yay! And now all that's left is the final chapter!**


	31. Chapter 31

The dim sunlight shown through the window in Naruto's bedroom, he held Ino in his arms as they were waking up after a heated session of love making. His eyes fluttered as he looked down at her sneak a kiss on her forehead.

"Hey, rise and shine…" He said softly

She nuzzled into his chest as she groaned in resistance. "5 more minutes…"

He chuckled "Ino you know we have a mission in an hour, and you also know how crabby Shikamaru gets when we're late…" He kissed her cheek

She pouted as she moved some of her hair from out of her face and grabbed his arm as he was getting up. "We have an hour right? Can we have some _fun_ before we go? It's going to a long and boring mission so why not, have some some fun for the road?~" She purred as she pulled him back into the bed.

He smirked as he was pulled back onto the back onto the bed effortlessly. " _Now how could I say no to that?~"_ She smiled as she crawled over top of him and kissed him gently at first and then roughly battled tongues with him.

He growled as she tried to fight over dominance as they kissed, she loved the way his masculinity tackled her body so. Even now while she's on top of him she felt her womanhood growing wet with anticipation all over again. She moaned softly as she sat directly on his erect manhood. "See, it seems I've sparked your interest all over again~" She mused.

He winced "Damn, you've caught me Ino…"

"So then, what should we do with our… 45 minutes hm?~"

He smiled and started to massage her perky D cups. "I think I know a thing or two~"

She grinned as she positioned her moist core with his bulge and slide herself inside of her. She winced from the soreness from their previous session but the pleasure soon took hold. It was her favorite part after all. She moaned softly as she bounced slightly as their hips rocked almost in perfect unison, Naruto was enjoying both the view and the feeling of his fiancee.

"O-Oh god Ino...You're almost as horny as the first time!" He moaned

She panted heavily while he spoke "N-Naruto-kun~" she said while whimpering

This would continue for about 15 minutes before Ino gave out from climaxing hard on his bulge for a third time. She panted a bit while she sat there on top of him kissing his chest softly. She could get used to sessions like this, dealing with Shikamaru's complaining made it all the more worth wild. In secret they might have made a habit out of it, but they will never let him know, he's smart enough to figure it out anyway.

Naruto glanced over at his alarm clock "4:55…"he chuckled while trying to catch breath

She looked up at him and poked his cheek, "If we shower together we can get there quicker~"

He smirked "After you~"

* * *

 **A/N: And Done! What better way to end a good story then with some lemon hm? I wanna thank you all for reading and I hope you read more of my works.**


End file.
